eatingneworleans.com » Bar/Club

Bar Tonique

admin — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 14:38:16 +0000

820 North Rampart Street

BONUS POINTS: Open at noon, nice and funky.
DRINK THIS: Dark & Stormy, Pimm’s Cup, Corpse Reviver #2

Perched on the border between the Quarter and Treme neighborhoods, this one-room bar serves up an amazing range of classic and contemporary cocktails in an appropriately funky ambiance. Just far enough from the high-traffic tourist zones to feel secluded, but bustling enough to have a solid energy, whether you’re having a nice afternoon relaxer or crowded shoulder-to-shoulder on a Friday night. Tonique’s special board has a solid list of over a dozen standby cocktails that covers the basics (Sazerac, Dark and Stormy) and then some (Corpse Reviver, Last Word). Their Pimm’s Cup is fruitier than most, with muddled citrus and fizzy water standing in for standard ginger ale. It’s a worthy take on one of New Orleans’ classic summertime highballs.

Open daily noon to 2 am.

Music Venues

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:34:18 +0000

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

Classic French Quarter Bars

admin — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 23:28:22 +0000

TUJAGUE’S
Steps away from the tourist-filled Café Du Monde, this unassuming barroom houses the longest and oldest saloon bars in a city known for its historic drinkeries. En route from venue to venue, stop in for a relaxed afternoon Sazerac (spicy rye whiskey with aromatic bitters and a rinse of anise and citrus). Consider it an liquid history lesson — – sipping the newly-named official cocktail of New Orleans in one of its most revered barrooms.

823 DECATUR ST.

504/525-8676

NAPOLEON HOUSE BAR AND CAFE

This seventeenth-century corner bar played host to old school French nationalists, who prepared a room for Mr. Bonaparte, just in case Elba didn’t work out. The patina of the walls, funky/formal atmosphere and air of history make it the perfect place to spend an afternoon, sipping the definitive Pimm’s Cup — a spicy gin-based cooler garnished with sliced cucumber.

500 CHARTRES STREET

504/524-9752