Where To Spend Your Precious Summer Fridays

Do you know what one of the very best things about summer is?  Even bosses and executives want to escape from their offices as often as possible!  Which has led to the fantastic tradition of Summer Fridays; season-long, early reprieves from work, allowing employees to gleefully flee their cubicles as early as 1 pm.  And as tempting as it can be to hightail it home, in order to get a head start on chilling and Netflix-ing, it would be a pity to miss out on low cost bites and afternoon boozing, at the following, Summer Friday-observing spots…

Crave Fishbar:  At Crave Fishbar’s new, Upper West Side location, patrons can lounge in a lush outdoor area, while indulging in an #oystergram happy hour from 5 to 7 pm, featuring dollar bivalves (such as Montauk Pearls, Black Duck Salts and Totten Inlets), paired with awesome, reduced-price cocktails (think the “A Song of Ice and Fire” with chile-infused tequila, watermelon syrup and agave, and the “Not Your Mother’s Pina Colada,” made with rum, coconut milk, pineapple and black pepper).
428 Amsterdam Ave, (646) 494-2750

Seaport Smorgasburg: Why wait for the weekend?  Launched on Memorial Day and open through the fall, South Street Seaport’s very own outpost of the all-food flea market, Smorgasburg, operates all week long.  And they even observe expanded hours (11am to 11pm) on Fridays; granting ample opportunity for sampling diverse fair from six indoor vendors (including Fletcher’s BBQ, Home Frite, Lumpia Shack and Red Hook Lobster Pound), and drowning ones workaday sorrows inside of a frosty cocktail, while posted at an expansive, outdoor bar.
11 Fulton St, (718) 928-6603

Benoit: Alain Ducasse’s Parisian bistro debuted “L’Apero” — a French take on happy hour — just after Memorial Day and it’s going strong all summer long.  Available daily from 5pm – 7pm at the bar (and from 2pm on Fridays), guests can graze on a selection of hors d’oeuvres-style small plates, such mini croque monsieurs, accompanied by a selection of wines for under $10, as well as fine wines offered by the ounce.
60 W 55th St, (646) 943-7373

Ribalta: To set the mood for their menu of rustic, Italian specialties (meatballs, eggplant parm, zucchini scapece), Neapolitan pizzas (crafted from century-old starters) and cocktail classics (including a whole section dedicated to reimagined Negronis), Ribalta has commissioned live singers and DJ’s — alternately crooning and spinning beloved Italian tunes — to play each Friday night.
48 E 12th St, (212) 777-7781

Dinosaur Bar-B-Que: Blow off end-of-week steam at either the Harlem or Gowanus locations of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, where $5 apps — including a Spicy Shrimp Boil, Chile Con Queso Nachos and pimento cheese and chow chow-topped Fried Green Tomatoes — are available from 3-7pm in Manhattan or 5-7pm in Brooklyn, along with cocktails, wine and spirits from $5-6, and beer specials going for $2-3.
700 W 125th St.,  (212) 694-1777
604 Union St, (347) 429-7030