New York City Rooftops Up Their Game For The Fall

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It’s no secret that warm weather and rooftops go hand in hand, and the return of rooftop season is always an exciting time in New York City. With fall in full swing, we’re swapping our frosé with cider, but it turns out that the rooftop party doesn’t have to stop when the temperatures drop. At these three New York City rooftop bars, fall brings warming cocktails, cozy decor and other special touches – on top of an always killer view.

Roof at Park South

Located atop the Park South Hotel in NoMad, Roof at Park South has embraced the season by introducing a special fall menu for the first time since it opened in 2014, with additions in both its food and drink offerings.

Both hot and frozen cocktails grace the menu, including an Irish Coffee (Paddy Irish whiskey, Counter Culture coffee, house whipped cream) and a frozen apple cider cocktail made with Don Q añejo rum, apple cider, maple and Grand Marnier.

The menu was designed to “express fall flavors in unexpected, yet approachable ways,” noted Nancy Cushman, co-owner and founder of Cushman Concepts, which leads operations at Roof at Park South. Cushman added, “We always love a good riff on a classic,” and detailed the old-school way the bar’s White Russian is made: “We use a very old technique called milk clarification to smooth the flavors of the drink and make it crystal clear.”

The food menu is full of comforting favorites like a wagyu and ground chuck cheeseburger, plus new additions like the jumbo soft pretzel with beer cheddar fondue.

On the decor front, plaid fleece blankets, pumpkins, gourds and cornstalks bring home the fall theme. “Our guests enjoy the cozy feel of our space during the cooler weather days and nights next to our fireplaces and heaters,” said Cushman. Since opening, the Roof at Park South has remained open through the end of October. “Rooftop season is something that New Yorkers look forward to with great anticipation and excitement and it’s also a season that we don’t want to let go of either. We like to extend enjoying the outdoors as long as possible!” said Cushman.

Roof at Park South is located at 125 East 27th Street. It closes for the season on November 1.

Refinery Rooftop

This Midtown rooftop lounge with Empire State Building views is open year-round, with a retractable glass roof and outdoor terrace that’s tented and filled with heat lamps during the colder months. For fall, Refinery Rooftop’s head bartender Nick Rini has crafted a pumpkin spice frozen latte, which is available through October 31 and part of the bar’s I Give a Sip campaign in which proceeds from a featured cocktail benefit a chosen cause. This month’s cocktail benefits Team Rubicon’s disaster response efforts. A series of Old Fashioneds round out the cocktail menu to be sipped fireside or, for those that want to bask in the crisp fall air, on the exposed terraces.

“While I was creating the fall menu I thought, ‘Give the people what they want!’” said Rini. “Who doesn’t want an Old Fashioned in the fall?” Rini has crafted four different twists on the classic cocktail, including a matcha Old Fashioned (Toki Japanese whisky, matcha honey syrup, Marie Brizard yuzu, peach bitters) and an Irish breakfast Old Fashioned made with bacon-infused Jameson, black pepper maple syrup and Angostura bitters, finished with an orange twist.

Refinery Rooftop is located at 63 West 38th Street.

JIMMY

During the summer, poolside at JIMMY at The James Hotel in SoHo is the place to be, but the year-round rooftop has plenty to offer during the colder months in its spacious interior complete with a fireplace and floor-to-ceiling windows. For football fans looking to catch the game in a more refined but still festive setting, coverage is projected on the wall behind the pool. “The best part of fall at JIMMY is being able to catch the Sunday and Monday night football games,” said David Rabin, co-owner. “If you want to cheer on your team with friends but don’t want to be in a typical sports bar environment, you can come have amazing cocktails with great music spinning in the background and incredible views.”

Johnny Swet, co-owner and mixologist, switches up the cocktail menu to reflect the current season. “With this new fall cocktail menu, we tried to embrace the changing season by incorporating warm spices and putting a stronger emphasis on our brown spirits like bourbons, aged rums, añejo tequilas and smoky mezcals,” said Swet. “With so many holidays and parties on the horizon, we also like to include fun Champagne cocktails and, of course, the classics that people love and are familiar with.”

For Swet and Rabin, creating a year-round experience has been top of mind since the beginning. “As my partner Johnny always said, we needed to create and operate JIMMY as a great bar that just happens to be 18 floors up as opposed to being a rooftop bar that is only relevant in the summer,” said Rabin. “For the most part, we’ve been very successful in achieving that vision. Even in the cooler months, we have top-notch cocktails, a comfortable space and the bonus of insane views of the city.”

JIMMY is located at 15 Thompson Street.