FRENCHMAN STREET
Most any tourist can find Bourbon Street — and believe us, ANY tourist does — but the music-crazy locals tend to congregate on this strip of music joints a few blocks downriver in the Faubourg Marigney district. Music flows out onto the street from bars such as the Spotted Cat (featuring everything from swing to bourbon-soaked blues), Snug Harbor Jazz Bistro (the Marsalis family’s home port), and dba (premium liquors and just about anything that will fit on stage). Last call rarely comes, because there’s always an “next club” to draw you in.
FRENCHMAN STREET BTW. DECATUR & DAUPHINE
VAUGHN’S LOUNGE
This much-beloved Thursday night standing gig is known worldwide as “Kermit at Vaughn’s” — a nod to trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, who packs the tiny Bywater corner bar whenever he’s in town. Round about midnight, the low-ceilinged barroom packs with a stellar brass band (Kermit or a list of worthy substitutes) and sweaty dancers with no sense of the morning after. If Mr. Ruffins is playin’, he’s literally cookin’ — and serving red beans and rice between sets.
800 LESSEPS ST.
504/947-5562