City Drinking - New Orleans
Idling round a bend in the Mississippi river, New Orleans has a worldwide reputation for jazz, partying and cocktails, not to mention its louche heritage of hookers, playboys, plantations and good-time girls. Sadly since Hurricane Katrina it is also infamous for death and destruction and many residential areas, particularly the Ninth Ward, still look like a war zone. Mercifully the French Quarter and other tourist-friendly areas are on high ground and escaped the worst of the floods and New Orleans is once again one of America’s party cities.
Tourism spikes during the two biggest parties – Carnival and Jazz Fest. Carnival begins in early January and peaks in the fortnight before Mardi Gras proper – the famous ‘Fat Tuesday’, when marching bands, floats and exhibitionists celebrate the beginning of Lent. (Also known as Shrove Tuesday, it falls the day before Ash Wednesday.) Jazz Fest, the international Jazz Festival, runs for ten days during the last week of April and the first week of May (see www.nojazzfest.com). If you’re visiting during either of these periods, be sure to book well ahead.
Even outside the hurricane season, the weather in New Orleans is tough: summers are hot, muggy and thunderous, and winters are wet in the extreme. And the city can be confusing to navigate – due to its position on the bend of the river, streets which start off parallel can curve until they end at right angles to each other. But the Big Easy has a lot to offer. From architecture, antique stores, Cajun cuisine and jazz clubs to riverboats, street cars and cocktail bars, its tree-lined avenues host a uniquely mixed and vibrant culture. If you’re travelling on business, you’ll find the USA’s first city-owned free wi-fi network covers the French Quarter, Central Business and Warehouse Districts.
NEW ORLEANS DRINKING
New Orleans claims jazz as its own creation and as you walk through the city music is all around, pouring out of the bars and the instruments of the numerous street buskers.
Many also claim that Crescent City is the home of the cocktail and its liquor laws are duly liberal, at least compared to the rest of the US. Bars and clubs are permitted to open around the clock should they wish to do so and New Orleans is one of few American cities where alcohol can legally be consumed on the street, albeit from a plastic container. Sorry, kids, but the legal drinking age is 21, like the rest of the US.
As far as most tourists are concerned, nightlife in New Orleans centres around the French Quarter, particularly Bourbon Street. This is debauched at the best of times with bar after bar offering live jazz and blues bands, cheap beer and lurid cocktails. Others offer strip shows and more! The most notable bars on Bourbon Street are reviewed over the following pages but Fritzel’s at 733 is an authentic jazz pub that is not to be missed.
Frenchmen Street and the surrounding area is a mecca for locals and music loving tourists. Here you’ll find d.b.a. (reviewed below) and a number of little bars noted for the musicians they attract. These include: Blue Nile (532 Frenchmen Street, www.bluenilemusic.com), Café Brasil (2100 Charters Street), Snug Harbor (626 Frenchmen Street, www.snugjazz.com), which attracts jazz big names, and my favourite, the Spotted Cat (623 Frenchmen Street). Only d.b.a. offers a memorable drink choice but they all have plenty of atmosphere and great live jazz.
Canal Street divides the French Quarter from the Central Business District. Towards the Mississippi is the quickly developing Warehouse District, where many new upscale restaurants and bars have opened.
New Orleans’ cocktail heritage is distinctly impressive. John B. Schiller created the Sazerac in 1793 at the Sazerac Coffee House, 13 Exchange Alley. Henry C. Ramos came up with the Ramos Gin Fizz in 1888 at his Imperial Cabinet Bar. So it’s not surprising that the city is also home to the annual Tales of the Cocktail event (mid July). This five day event sees authors and mixologists hosting spirited dinners, demonstrations, book signings and seminars. For further information see www.talesofthecocktail.com.
Arnaud's French 75 Bar
813 Bienville Street (nr Bourbon St), French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70112, USA
Hours: Mon-Sun 5pm-2am
Type: Lounge bar
Alfresco: No
Entry: Open door
Highlights: Service, cocktails & food
Atmosphere: Relaxed & subdued
Clientele: Locals, business types & sophisticated tourists
Dress Code: Smart casual
Price Guide: $$$$
Food: Classic Creole
In 1918, a colourful French wine salesman named Arnaud Cazenave opened the grand restaurant that bears his name. With its many private dining rooms and hidden Richelieu bar, Arnaud’s became as noted for the privacy it offered as for its excellent food and service.
Once the Old Grill Bar, the renamed and refurbished Arnaud’s French 75 bar has its own entrance on Bienville Street. While a relatively recent addition, it looks and feels like it has been part of the restaurant forever, thanks to a classic altar-like bar, a mosaic floor and a veritable rainforest of polished wood. The service offered by the bartenders in their white jackets is distinctly old-school, classic drinks, including the eponymous champagne cocktail, are lovingly made and the food is very classy.
Look out for the bronze bust of Churchill by Daniel Price which surveys the scene from atop the cigar humidor.
The Bombay Club
Prince Conti Hotel, 830 Conti Street, French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70112, USA
Hours: Mon-Sun 6pm-1am
Type: Lounge bar/restaurant
Alfresco: No
Entry: Subject to capacity
Highlights: Live music
Atmosphere: Jolly gentleman’s club
Clientele: Locals, business types and sophisticated tourists
Dress Code: Smart casual
Price Guide: $$$$
Food: Louisiana influenced modern American
Originally founded in the early 1980s, the Bombay Club sits on the ground floor of the Prince Conti Hotel in the heart of the French Quarter, just a short walk from Bourbon Street. But this refined, wood panelled lounge feels a million miles from the blare and glare of the tourist bars. It’s like a classic gentleman’s club, yet with the crustiness erased and the atmosphere warmed by the local jazz musicians who tinkle the ivories in the corner.
The comfy leather stools around the central island bar are pole position, though Chesterfield sofas, armchairs and three booths across the back wall offer rather more intimacy. Windows overlooking the courtyard garden brighten the place up on summer evenings.
The lengthy Martini list includes over 100 drinks, some brilliantly named, all perfectly drinkable but none especially memorable. The convivial atmosphere attracts a mixed crowd of young professionals, conference escapees and the odd tourist.
Bulldog Pub
3236 Magazine Street (btwn Toledano & Pleasant), Garden District, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70115, USA
Tel: +1 504 891 1516, bulldog.draftfreak.com
Hours: Mon-Thu 2pm-midnight, Fri-Sun noon-2am
Type: Local pub
Alfresco: Side patio
Entry: Open door
Highlights: Beer selection
Atmosphere: Convivial, relaxed
Clientele: Locals
Dress Code: Casual
Price Guide: $$$
Food: Burgers inside, crayfish opposite
Set off the tourist track among the shops of the attractive uptown Garden District, The Bulldog attracts a friendly crowd of locals. With its red wood ceiling, timber-clad walls and lengthy, solid wooden bar counter it feels like a log cabin – cosy and welcoming, even to a lone stranger walking in for the first time.
The Bulldog serves the local community well with some 50 beers on tap and more than 100 bottled brews. As well as local gems such as Abita Andygator you’ll find Belgian ales and American microbrews. Sports screens are dotted about but rock music provides the soundtrack.
The kitchen hatch opposite the bar knocks out the burgers but do consider making like a local and running across the street to the Big Fisherman seafood store. Their boiled mudbugs (crayfish, to Brits) are a great accompaniment to your chosen pint and best enjoyed alfresco on the pub’s side patio.
Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge
Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130, USA
Hours: Mon-Sun 11am-11pm
Type: Hotel lounge bar
Alfresco: No
Entry: Open door
Highlights: Drinking on the move
Atmosphere: Relaxed, convivial
Clientele: Sophisticated tourists
Dress Code: Smart casual
Price Guide: $$$$
Food: Great bar snacks
The Monteleone Hotel was opened in 1886 by Antonio Monteleone, a Sicilian who had run a cobbler’s at 241 Royal Street opposite. With just 14 rooms, Antonio’s establishment was decidedly boutique: today fourth generation Monteleones own and operate a 600 room hotel.
The Carousel Piano Bar opened in 1949 and is so named because the circular 25-seat island bar rotates, transporting barflies one revolution every fifteen minutes as it turns on 2,000 steel rollers powered by a one-quarter horsepower motor. It resembles a vintage fairground ride and the top was indeed built by a carousel expert.
Although not widely known outside New Orleans the Vieux Carré cocktail is one of the most popular drinks in the city. It was created in 1938 by Walter Bergeron, the head bartender at the Monteleone Hotel, and is named after the French term for the French Quarter (literally ‘old square’). Packed with flavour, this drink is vaguely reminiscent of a Sweet Manhattan served on the rocks and a visit to New Orleans is not complete without enjoying one whilst spinning around this whimsical bar.
Cooter Brown's Tavern & Oyster Bar
509 South Carrollton Avenue, Riverbend, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70118, USA
Hours: Mon-Thu 11am-3am, Fri-Sat 11am-4am
Type: Sports bar & pool hall
Alfresco: No
Entry: Open door
Highlights: Beer selection and sports screens
Atmosphere: Unsophisticated, rowdy canteen
Clientele: Beer quaffing locals
Dress Code: Very casual
Price Guide: $$
Food: Po-boys and fried comfort food
Abita is the local brewery in this neck of the woods and you’ll find its Amber beer on draught in practically every bar in New Orleans. But besides this fine brew, Abita also make one of my all time favourites, Andygator, and Cooter Brown’s is one of the few bars that serve it. But whatever your tastes in beer, Cooter Brown’s offers a phenomenal choice, including 400 brands of domestic and imported bottled brews, and 45 different offerings on tap.
Located in the historic Riverbend section of uptown New Orleans, Cooter Brown's was established in 1977. Since then it has gained something of a reputation as a sports bar and beer hall. Artist Scott Conary’s caricatures of deceased celebrities line the walls, complete with oversized heads and beers in their hands, while eight large screens provide entertainment as you sup. This is a good, honest sports bar and all the better for it.
d.b.a.
618 Frenchmen Street (btwn Royal & Chartes Sts), Marigny, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70116, USA
Hours: Sun-Thu 4pm-4am, Fri-Sat 4pm-5am
Type: Lounge bar/jazz club
Alfresco: No
Entry: No cover
Highlights: Beers, spirits, wine and music
Atmosphere: Dive bar with style
Clientele: Locals, discerning drinkers
Dress Code: Nothing too dressy
Price Guide: $$$
Food: Only crisps (chips)
Frenchmen Street is dotted with bars and clubs but most of them are first and foremost live music venues. d.b.a. is primarily about great beer, great spirits and great wine – although it does also book some fantastic acts.
d.b.a. has a sister bar in New York City and, although the New Orleans branch has a relaxed, almost dive bar feel, it has more than a hint of New York style. Two distinct rooms lined in redwood planks share the central bar, one with a lounge feel, the other more jazz club. Both are dimly lit, with twirling ceiling fans and lots of dark wood, and a warm yellow glow emanates from the small candles dotted about in glasses.
d.b.a. attracts a discerning bunch of locals and the odd informed tourist, mainly drawn by a range of 60-odd domestic and imported bottled beers plus another twenty on draught. The spirits selection is also serious with over 40 malts and 33 bourbons just for starters. Although the wine list is not as extensive, it does include some well chosen and interesting bins.
Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse
716 Iberville Street (@ Royal St), French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70130, USA
Hours: Mon-Fri 11:30am-11pm, Sat-Sun 5pm-11pm
Type: Lounge/restaurant bar
Alfresco: No
Entry: No ropes or cover
Highlights: Steaks and wine list
Atmosphere: Businesslike
Clientele: Business types and odd tourist
Dress Code: Nothing too casual
Price Guide: $$$$
Food: Full restaurant menu
The Brennan family are the best known and most successful restaurateurs in New Orleans and Dickie Brennan gained his first experience in the family business at the famed Commander's Palace. This is his own contemporary flagship.
During the day, and even in the early evening, the place has something of a power lunch feel. Many drinkers and diners display that New York urgency so rarely found in the relaxed south and one gets the impression that a lot of business is signed and sealed over steaks and Martinis. Later, the light is subdued and mellow, the music gentle lounge and the mood correspondingly more relaxed.
The bar area is suitably swanky: the floor, the bar and even the walls are made of high polished wood, while miniature bottles are on display in cabinets. The steaks are truly amazing and there’s something special about tucking into them at the bar but the cocktails are less impressive and many feature the dreaded sour mix. However, the Martinis are cold and bone dry and the wine list offers plenty of carnivorous reds.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
941 Bourbon Street (corner St Phillip Street), French Quarter, New Orleans, Louisiana, LA 70116, USA
Tel: +1 504 522 9377
Hours: Mon-Sun 3pm-3am
Type: Pub/bar
Alfresco: Side terrace
Entry: Open door
Highlights: History, atmosphere
Atmosphere: Buzzy
Clientele: Tourists
Dress Code: Very casual
Price Guide: $$$
Food: Not a place to eat
This old Creole cottage at the far end of Bourbon Street is steeped in history and atmosphere. Built in 1772, it is one of the few surviving examples of original 18th century French architecture in New Orleans. Some say it is the second oldest building in New Orleans and the oldest building continually in use as a bar in the whole of the States.
The infamous privateer and hero of the Battle of New Orleans, Jean Lafitte, once ran the place as a blacksmith’s shop with his brother. Little seems to have changed since the pair of them were hammering out horseshoes on the anvil, and the ladies toilet facilities in particular have improved very little over the last century or so.
Authentically, Lafitte’s is lit only by candles. Ancient cypress beams support the low ceiling and crumbling stucco reveals the wall’s brick infill construction. The drinks here are basic – I recommend a pint of Abita Amber – but the overall effect is wonderfully atmospheric, particularly when folk sit around the old piano and sing along.
