Like a stylish best friend's fixer-upper apartment, this wine bar is located in an ugly strip mall next to a Laundromat and a Yum Yum Donuts, where vagrants drink booze out of paper bags and heckle passersby en route to another world within.

Inside Lou, groups of girls pull tables together and giggle over glasses of bubbly while couples get cozy in the leather booths to sip red wine. First and foremost, Lou is a wine bar; the menu features 25 kinds of white, red, sweet and sparkling wines changed by owner Lou Amdur every week. Similar to a Spanish bar, wines are paired with small plates including cheese and charcuterie plates, frise salad and, for the really hungry, slow-cooked lamb or chicken. The menu changes frequently, but the snackier items always remain: olives, almonds and "pig candy"—a silly name for squares of caramelized bacon. Just like in Barcelona, the bar juxtaposes old-world charm with contemporary aesthetics. Modern black-and-white lanterns light up a chalkboard listing the wines, a bouquet of fresh roses on the rustic bar, and wallpaper printed with tree branches. The funky floral-print curtain hides the outside world, but it's so cute we wanted to steal it for our own apartment. —Alexandra Le Tellier