La Piazza
Atop the Flatiron food emporium Eataly sits La Birreria, an 8000sqft Italian beer garden that pours glasses of amber ale in view of both the copper-capped Metropolitan Life Building and Empire State. It's an impressive setting for sipping cask ale brewed onsite, or any of the local and imported taps on offer (some ten drafts and twenty bottles). Communal tables under the big city sky are perfect for groups, as is the Piatto Misto platter made up of a beer- and apricot-braised pork shoulder and a host of sausages (both Italian cotechino and German bratwurst make cameos). Even in the dead of winter, this rooftop is in full swing as it transforms into an Italian Alps-inspired pop-up Biata. Yes, the roof gets covered, but stringed light, ski lodge aesthetics, and specials like muleld wine make up for it.