Jim Meehan opened Please Don't Tell on St. Marks Place in 2007 — entered through a vintage phone booth inside the East Village hot-dog shop Crif Dogs — and effectively defined the modern American speakeasy revival in a single thirty-seat room. The credentials are dense: first-ever JBA Outstanding Bar Program winner (2012), Tales of the Cocktail Best American Cocktail Bar 2009, named #1 worldwide by The World's 50 Best Bars in 2011. Jeff Bell purchased PDT and Crif Dogs from founder Brian Shebairo in 2020 and runs the program now (Diageo World Class Bartender 2013, Tales Best American Bartender 2017); his sister Highball Ltd opened March 2026 in a hidden room inside 10 Grand Central. The signature Benton's Old Fashioned — bacon-washed bourbon — originated here. For the speakeasy that defined the format, still operating two decades on.