When I recently visited and fell in love the nondescript bar Hard to Explain, there was a sign in their bathroom advertising their sister bar, StEight. Finding it was half of the adventure. Even though I knew it was located behind a hair salon, I expected the usual pomp and circumstance of New York City that would give away the speakeasy location. But it didn’t! I found the hair salon, let myself in, and walked to the back, where a simple door opened to this amazing little speakeasy. It was standing room only with pretty limited space, which I understand because no one wanted to leave! The bar was based a lot in specialty sake and the menu encourages you to look around the walls of the room if you are looking to order a glass of wine. We went with a sake flight, where the bartender very knowledgeably talked us through four different types of sake as we tried them. It was quite the experience and I look forward to going back again in the future! Bonus points for all the amazing Japanese snacks that they also sell.