#2451 - Bourbon Heat, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

This is a most Bourbon Street of Bourbon Street bars, with a busy dance club upstairs complete with a balcony to flash from, if you're looking for that sort of thing. It's located within a historic New Orleans building constructed between 1832 and 1834, although there are few vestiges of that once you step inside and the history isn't entirely respected by the club owner.

711 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 324-4669
Est. Jan 2011 - Building constructed: year
Previous bars in this location: Tricou House, Madrigal's
Web site: 711bourbonheat.com - facebook
Reviews: examiner - neworleans - yelp - tripadvisor

#2450 - ALLways Lounge, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

This is among my favorite bars in New Orleans, an intimate, alternative theater and lounge on the edge of the Marigny featuring burlesque, erotica readings, swing dance lessons and bingo. We arrived to a small crowd dancing to some engaging Hungarian Gypsy music from Kalman Balogh's Gypsy Cimbalom Band.

Allways Lounge, New Orleans, LA

2240 St Claude Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117 - (504) 218-5778
Web site: theallwayslounge.net - facebook
Reviews: nola - roadtrippers - bestofneworleans - gonola - yelp

#2449 - The John, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

A divey bar just off of Frenchmen Street, where mostly locals drink PBRs and cheap, strong cocktails, and the occasional tourist swings in to check out the golden seating alluded to in the name.

The John, New Orleans, LA

2040 Burgundy St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 942-7159
Web site: facebook
Reviews: nola - yelp - bestofneworleans - thrillist

#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