Hi.  Let me start off by stating I think google rocks :)

I am a 24 year old, with a degree in MIS (biz/IS) from URI, with a
friend or 2 that are interested (one is a bartender) in joining my
possible venture.

I have been contemplating opening a bar / bar - inet cafe combo (or
just inet cafe, which doesn't seem so profitable from what I have
heard / read).  I would like to know several things about this topic.

-best locations within NYC (preferably Manhattan) (I have been
contemplating SOHO since it's a nice area, with a lot of places for
rent recently (due to the WTC and whatnot)  I saw one bar / cafe for
sale for about 90k + lease.  I am pretty sure the area will recover,
since there is a lot of focus on it.)
I like the looks of "cafe wha".

-rent / lease ranges

-expected / possible income / profit.
will / can it support 2 families (my friend (wife + 1 newborn) and I
(married in 1 year))
 (we currently make between 40-60k each)

-should I serve food (kitchen seems to be a costly idea)

-inet capable (wired / wireless) = yes/no, why?

-possibility /chances of long term success

-is the idea of a live band on certain or every night a good one?
(cover charge will work, if band sounds good or is well known I’d
imagine.)

-other suggestions?  The more the merrier!

Thanks,
Seth

I can't answer many of your questions, but let me refer you to The DNA
Lounge in San Francisco.
  http://www.dnalounge.com/
This is a club that was purchased by Jamie Zawinski (from Netscape),
remodeled, and has now been operating for a year or two now. There is
a LOT of background information on the remodeling, permits, and other
historical stuff from Jamie "behind the scenes" at the dna lounge web
site or at...
  http://www.jwz.org/gruntle/
which is a long rants page (about Netscape, his home, and the lounge).
  --Maniac

Hi wumgod,

Just got this link in my weekly lii.org mailing so I thought I'd post
it for your review.  May have some tax incentive tips you could use. 
Good luck with your venture and give a kiss to the big town for me.
{http://nynv.aiga.org/resources.shtml}

Regards,
V

Hi, Seth.

I can't take on your whole question right now, but off the top of my
head, you might want to take this into consideration:

http://abc.state.ny.us/JSP/content/classDefinitions.jsp

I'm not familiar with New York laws, but when considering applying for
a liquor license, you must fit yourself into one of the appropriate
categories. Where I live, it's easier to get a liquor license for an
establishment where a certain percentage of the sales are for food.
This establishes, legally, that your liquor sales are incidental to
your primary line of business. I'm not sure off the top of my head
whether it's cheaper, or the guidelines are less stringent, or what
specific factor makes it "easier," though.

Where I live, I think they call this a "hotel" license, despite the
fact that few of the places that have them are actually hotels.

It looks like your laws are even more convoluted. I know there is or
was some specific stipulation in New York where patrons could bring
their own wine (or liquor?) into a restaurant, but the restaurant
itself couldn't sell it, for example. Anyway, the main categories are
listed on the page in the link above.

So, in relation to your question of whether or not to sell food, your
choice of liquor license may affect that decision.

And good luck. It sounds like a fun idea.

Lisa.