#2448 - Port of Call, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

Try the: Monsoon

The Port of Call is a nifty little nautial/tiki themed dive in a quiet portion of the French Quarter, known primarily for its massive burgers, which some consider the New Orleans style burger. In addition to the larger patty, this means they come with a huge mound of un-melted, grated, cheddar cheese and a big baked potato on the side. The large burgers are a vestige of its early days as a neighborhood steakhouse:

"It was a sort of back of town place," recalled Wesley Schmidt, the longtime general manager of the jazz club and restaurant Snug Harbor, whose history is entangled with the Port's. "It was the kind of place where the floor director for the 10 o'clock news would come and drink after work -- you have to remember, this was before Bourbon Street really became a drunken frat boy weekend. It was another time and place. And George began serving food to those guys, these steaks and these really big hamburgers."  
(Brett Anderson, Times-Picayune)  

The Port of Call, New Orleans, LA

The tiki theme is a vestige of original owner George Brumat's time as a maitre d at the Bali Ha'i, a large, classic tiki restaurant along Pontchartrain Beach from 1939 to 1983. The 55-acre amusement park there closed, and the Bali Ha'i with it, in 1983. The building was then destroyed by fire in 1986, and the only vestige remaining is a portion of the entrance that now opens to Kenner Veterans Memorial Park.

Port of Call is quite popular with the locals so you are likely to wait for a seat if you do not arrive right as they open (currently 11am every day). In addition to the massive burger, we ordered the signature "Monsoon" cocktail from our bartender Floyd. The drinks here are more French Quarter touristy than craft, but the Monsoon is pretty good as these drinks go -- not overly sweet as you might fear.

Mushroom Burger at the Port of Call, New Orleans, LA

The Bali Ha'i, New Orleans, LA
(Postcard photo via nola.com)

(A few more photos of the old Bali Ha'i can be found at Tiki Central here.)

838 Esplanade s, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 523-0120
Est. 1963
Web site: portofcallnola.com - facebook
Articles ranked: nola - thetikichick - beakersandbouillabaisse - tikiroom - 24dollarburger - gonola - redbeansandlife - epicurious - stevesbeenthere - yelp - tripadvisor

#2447 - Sneaky Pete's, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

The bartender here told me that there are two definitions for "Sneaky Pete": A pool cue used by a hustler and banged up to look like a local bar cue, and a 24oz beer in a paper bag. Dictionary.com says it is "a homemade or inferior liquor or wine." The internet has a few even more colorful definitions. The French Quarter Sneaky Pete's is open 24 hours, and is an unremarkable, but comfortably divey bar.

135 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 587-7701
Est. 2008
Web site: sneakypetesnola.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - bestofneworleans

#2446 - The Carousel Bar, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

The Carousel Bar, Hotel Monteleone, New Orleans

Try the: Vieux Carre

The Hotel Monteleone claims that the Carousel Bar is "the only revolving bar in New Orleans." One wonders how many thousands of visitors to various French Quarter bars over the decades have arrived at a state where that claim would seem dubious. But let's stipulate that the Carousel is probably the only one that appears to revolve even when one arrives completely sober.

Beyond the kitch, the Carousel Bar delivers some quality cocktails, and shares a notable place in both cocktail culture and literary history. In the former category its contributions include the invention of the Vieux Carre. In the latter, authors who have rotated through the bar include Hemingway, Faulkner, Capote, Tennessee Williams, Anne Rice, Stephen Ambrose, and John Grisham. References to the bar are contained in Hemingway's "Night Before Battle," Ambrose's "Band of Brothers," Eudora Welty's "A Curtain of Green," and Rebecca Wells' "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood."

The Carousel Bar, New Orleans

The rotating bar was constructed in 1949 and has been substantially remodeled a couple times, most recently in 2011. It should go without saying that we should make a point to support carousel bars wherever we may find them, and your New Orleans checklist should include stopping in for a Vieux Carre.

Vintage postcard of the Carousel Bar, New Orleans
(via trashytravel.com)

214 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 523-3341                    
Est. 1949 - Building constructed 1886
Web site: hotelmonteleone.com
Articles ranked: nola.com - gardenandgun - roadtrippers - neworleans.com - wikipedia - esquire (video) - yelp - tripadvisor - neworleansonline

#2445 - Sazerac Bar, New Orleans - 3/16/2014

Yuri, myself, Ray and Russell
Ramos Gin Fizzes at the Sazerac Bar, New Orleans

Try the: Ramos Gin Fizz

The Sazerac's title as first ever cocktail may be in dispute, but it is my favorite classic cocktail, and there are few places better to enjoy it than the historic bar that bears its name in the city of its invention. But the drink that encouraged Huey Long to hold court in the Roosevelt Hotel bar -- to the point where the bar was known as "Huey's Office" and is said to have been the reason for the construction of the Airline Highway from Baton Rouge -- is the Ramos Gin Fizz. Thus our party started with the latter classic.

Sazerac Bar, New Orleans

The bar named The Sazerac traveled around town a bit. "It started out in a roughhouse back alley behind Royal Street in 1853 and stayed in more-or-less the same location for about 100 years before some enterprising businessman recognized the value of an emerging brand, purchased Peychaud’s original recipe, and moved the Bar to the Roosevelt Hotel.  Two more hotel name changes and one location change within the hotel would place the Sazerac bar in its current spot… right off the grand main lobby of what is once again, and finally, called the Roosevelt Hotel." (12bottlebar)

Meanwhile, the Roosevelt Hotel had quite a history of its own. The first part of building opened in 1893 as the Hotel Grunewald, which featured a basement lounge called "The Cave," considered one of the first nightclubs in America. The Cave was elaborately decorated with stalactites, stalagnites, pools, fountains and nymphs, and remained in operation hosting late night carousing, dancing, and Dixieland musics until 1935. In that year the hotel was purchased by a group headed by the aforementioned "enterprising businessman." This was Seymour Weiss, the former owner of a barber shop in the hotel, who would grow into becoming not only the owner and general manager but a valued confidante of Huey P. Long. Weiss converted The Cave to the Blue Room, which would host the likes of Glenn Miller, Guy Lombardo, and Tommy Dorsey. In 1938 they added the Main Bar, later to become The Sazerac:

Sazerac Bar, New Orleans, LA

'In 1949, Weiss purchased the rights to use the name "Sazerac Bar" from the Sazerac Company. The bar had previously been on Exchange Place before Prohibition and at 300 Carondelet Street afterward. He renovated a store front on Baronne Street which had previously held a wine-and-spirits store and opened the Sazerac Bar on September 26, 1949. As a sign of his marketing genius, Weiss announced through the news media that the new bar would abolish the previous 'men-only' house rule and admit women. Women from around the city flocked to the venue, and the event became known as Storming the Sazerac. The anniversary is celebrated every year at the hotel with vintage costumes and libations.... In 1959, the decision was made to close the Sazerac Bar on Baronne Street and transfer the name to the Main Bar. It is still named the Sazerac Bar today.' (wikipedia)

The bar and the rest of the hotel were shut down for four years after Hurricane Katrina, reopening in 2009 under the ownership of the Waldorf Astoria group. The room is handsomely dark, its bar framed by giant silver trophies and its art deco interior featuring murals by Paul Ninas. While the crowd tends to be sedate and formal, our well made gin fizzes were interrupted by a group of young women who told us they were on a sort of bachelorette party version of a scavenger hunt with their friend required to get a stranger to buy her a shot. If it wasn't a true story, it was good enough to merit a swig of tequila, and we happily obliged.

The Cave, Grunewald Hotel (wikimedia)

The Sazerac definitely belongs on your shortlist of bars to visit in New Orleans.


130 Roosevelt Way, New Orleans, LA 70112 - (504) 648-1200
Est. 1949 - Building constructed: 1893
Previous bars in this location: The Main Bar
Web site: therooseveltneworleans.com
Reviews: 12bottlebar - eater - youtube - nola.com - nola.com - atlasobscura - edibleneworleans - neworleans.com - yelp

#2444 - Victorian Lounge, The Columns, New Orleans - 3/16/2014

The Victorian Lounge, The Columns Hotel, New Orleans

When a visitor is ready for a break from the raucous bars of the Quarter and jazz clubs of the Marigny, it is a good time for a visit to what is, in a way, the most classic of New Orleans bars -- the Victorian Lounge in The Columns Hotel. It is best reached by catching the Saint Charles Avenue streetcar, said to be the oldest operating streetcar system in the world, running since 1835 -- just a couple years after the mansion now called The Columns was constructed. It's recommended to buy an all-day pass, jumping on and off to more closely admire some of the city's mansions, or to check out a bar or restaurant. Definitely recommended is a stop in the upper Garden District to visit The Columns.

The current hotel was originally constructed in 1883, designed by the famous architect Thomas Sully as the family home of cigar magnate Simon Hernsheim. This was at a time when 80% of men smoked cigars, New Orleans led the country in cigar production, and Hernsheim's factory was the largest in the world, rolling imported Cuban tobacco into 40 million cigars a year from it's massive five story factory on the corner of Magazine and Julia Streets. (1)  Five years later Hernsheim would commit suicide, consuming "cyanide of potassium” to end his grief "resulting from the death of his wife and other family troubles." (ibid)

After the mansion was severely damaged in a 1915 hurricane it was substantially remodeled, including adding the Colonial Revival style columns that now provide its name. It was run as a posh boarding house until 1953, when it was sold and converted in the hotel that remains today. The third floor includes the "Pretty Baby Suite," a nod to memories of Louis Malle filming a twelve-year-old Brooke Shields here in his 1978 recreation of a Storyville district house of ill repute.

I could not locate a date for the construction of the lounge, in the former dining room of the Hernsheims, but a commenter on this blog post claims to have constructed it himself in 1980. In any case, today it is one of the most elegant bars in the Big Easy, with 12-foot high mahogany doors opening to a stately bar, below 15-foot mahogany ceilings, where a bartender serves New Orleans classics to a small mix of patrons, both formal and casual.

3811 St Charles Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115 - (504) 899-9308
Bar Est. 1980? - Building constructed: 1883
Web site: thecolumns.com - facebook
Articles ranked: sucktheheads - gardenandgun - neworleansbar.org - nola - triparchitect - yelp - tripadvisor

#2443 - Golden Lantern, New Orleans - 3/16/2014

This is a quintessential gay dive bar, in the French Quarter, but a few blocks northeast of party central, with strong, affordable drinks, jello shots, drag queens on Saturdays, friendly staff, and a mixed crowd every day.

"As the official home of Southern Decadence, the Golden Lantern boasts the smallest performance stage in the entire French Quarter. A popular bar for locals of every persuasion, the Golden Lantern is the source of the best Margarita and best Bloody Mary in the entire city. With two cocktail hours (8 to 10 a.m. and 4 to 9 p.m.), the bar welcomes all and features a myriad of specials including $6 beer pitchers. As the home of Donnie Jay, a former Southern Decadence grand marshal, the Golden Lantern is steeped in Southern Decadence history, and rumor has it that Decadence was actually created here. Commissioned photographs of past grand marshals dot the walls along with a full-size cutout of Marilyn Monroe. Musically, divas rule and video monitors anchor the bar. This is one of the friendliest bars in the city, so don’t be surprised if a stranger offers to buy you a cocktail. He may even be buying for the whole bar!" (livingneworleans.com)

Golden Lantern, New Orleans

Golden, Lantern, New Orleans
(About a year after this photo was taken the sign was
modified to read "Est. 1964")

1239 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 529-2860
Est. 1964
Web site: facebook
Reviews: nola - yelp - tripadvisor - gaycities

#2442 - The Original Pierre Maspero's, New Orleans - 3/16/2014

It is difficult to define how long Pierre Maspero's has included a bar, but it appears to have been operating some kind of cafe under that name since the building was constructed in 1788. Here is a description from the current web site:

"Of all the historic sites in New Orleans, none have witnessed more drama than the old exchange coffee house known as The Original Pierre Maspero’s Slave Exchange. The building is one of the oldest in the French Quarter, having been erected in 1788 by Don Juan Paillet. During the first decades of the 19th century this coffee house was a meeting place where brothers Jean and Pierre Lafitte and their men met to plan escapes. It was also in this historic site that Andrew Jackson met with the Lafitte brothers to plan the defense at the epic Battle of New Orleans. It was at this battle that the British surrendered to the American troops led by Jackson."

Today it is a cajun restaurant known for items like barbecue shrimp in spicy sauce, blackened redfish, and grilled alligator. In the owner's description of their cocktails, "The most popular drink we serve during the summer is our Fruit Daiquiri. In the winter we do pretty well with our Irish Coffee. We also have Hurricanes, Planter's Punch, Pernod Suissesse, the Zombie, and Ramos Gin Fizz."

I don't feel like I had a good enough sample to comment on either cocktails or food (although next time I go I plan to have the seafood pistolettes). But they seemed palatable, and more than worth a visit, particularly when combined with the history and abiding feeling of an 18th century space, with its mixture of brick and plaster, fireplace and hanging pots.

440 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 524-8990
Est. 1788 - Building constructed: 1788
Web site: originalpierremasperos.com - facebook
Reviews: mitchellspublications - lafittesblackbox - gayot - yelp - tripadvisor