In town for the annual Frieze New York art fair, artist Tobias Rehberger has packed a few megatons of booze in his suitcase. Setting out to recreate his favorite hangout from Frankfurt in the basement of the Hôtel Americano, he gives the original Bar Oppenheimer a Mad Hatter’s twist. Combining mind-boggling sculptural work with a fully functional bar, every surface is decked out in black-and-white stripes, and if that razzle-dazzle camouflage isn’t enough to OD your senses, let their specialty drinks blow your mind. Apart from the Vodka Stein, Oppie serves a helter-skelter tequila passion fruit, primed with a dash of tabasco. A ground zero for creative types and the intelligentsia, this is the place where nights are chased away, discussing and arguing ideas grand and fleeting. Take part in the razzmatazz while it lasts – ever a catalyst for change, Oppenheimer is temporary, only ’til July 15th.

Chef Harold Dieterle has taken a well-considered clamber into his family tree, curating a menu that pays equal homage to both his Germanic and Italian roots. Pull up a pew in the classy dining area—dark wooden floors, stencilled walls and red-leather, crescent-moon booths—and you’ll be greeted with the schizophrenic (inventive rather than psychotic) menu split straight down the middle—one side stamped with famiglia Chiarelli, the other with Familie Dieterle. From the Chiarelli camp there’s dishes such as skillet-braised cuttlefish and spaghettini while the denizens of Dieterle bring pan-fried duck schnitzel and homemade Jagerwurst to the table. And then there’s the signature bone marrow dish (slide three above)—conclusive proof that if sticks and stones do break some bones then at least what’s inside can be served up with… sea urchin and fried potatoes! Damn tasty too.

Deliberately small and equally impossible to find, it should be no surprise that subMercer rests at the bottom of the mightily luxurious Mercer Hotel. You’ll only find the club by first entering the hotel, taking the freight elevator to a subterranean level, traversing a few hallways and then ending up at a red door. Since not a soul would complain about the noise at this depth, the party is guaranteed long and loud on a nightly basis.

Once you get in, and that is, if you get in, you’ll be treated to a full-on presentation of DJs, designers, hipsters, music industry types and the occasional celebrity or two filling up the small, dim, brick-walled space. Just remember that despite its size, it’s one of the city’s best tips for a night out, especially when the words “clubbing” and “New York” aren’t the most compatible couple in the world.

Launched in August this year, it’s no wonder Osswald Parfumerie feels so fresh – but then again, it’s hard to imagine the place being anything else. With a plethora of perfumes, skincare, make-up and accessories, it’s olfactory heaven for those with more refined tastes. So, if the Osswald Boutique & Beauty Spa is a little too far to travel (it’s in Zurich), treat yourself instead to one of the city’s finest selections of pampering products.