#2458 - Royal House Oyster Bar, New Orleans - 3/18/2014

For many years this was the Italian restaurant Tortorici's, established in 1900 and until the 1960s actually called Tortorich's, after an error by the immigration clerk that greeted founder Louis Tortorici. It lived to be the seventh oldest restaurant in New Orleans, and appears to have been struggling even before Hurricane Katrina closed it for good. In 2008 it was remodeled and reopened as the Royal House Oyster Bar.

441 Royal St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 528-2601
Est. 2008
Previous bars in this location: Tortorici’s
Web site: royalhouserestaurant.com - facebook
Articles ranked: bobandterry - citylightsbysharon - frenchquarterly - seriouseats - bestofneworleans - coolinary

#2457 - Hermes Bar, New Orleans - 3/18/2014

I have to assume my experience at this relatively new bar in the legendary Antoine's was not representative. From the employees wiling the time away chatting with their friends at the bar -- chatting, ironically, about how busy they are; to the bartender who could not make a Vieux Carre, to the bland tenderloin tips and salad, there was virtually nothing to enjoy here on this night except the restaurant's pedigree. This bar was constructed in 2009 the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster (which also claimed Antoine's fabled 25,000-bottle wine cellar). It's the first time Antoine's has had a bar, after 169 years without one.

Of course the restaurant itself is an essential visit. It was established in 1840, 39 years before Edison would invent the lightbulb by Antoine Alciatore, whose father had witnessed the execution of Robespierre, Antoine's is still run by his heirs, the oldest family-run restaurant in the country, and the second oldest, period. In 1868 it moved to its current location, subsequently purchasing and expanding into the adjacent spaces that once held stables and slave quarters, to 15 dining rooms -- one of which was sacrificed for the Hermes bar. The dishes and cocktails invented here, the most famous from Antoine's son Jules, include the Cafe Brulot Diabolique and Oysters Rockefeller.

Hermes Bar at Antoine's, New Orleans
(I don't eat oysters, so I can't be trusted to judge.)

Antoine's no longer requires the strictly formal dress code (although many still adhere to it), and getting a table in one of the dining rooms no longer requires a personal relationship with the waiter who runs it -- relationships once passed down like heirloms. But the renowned French-Creole cuisine and note-perfect service continue.

I don't know if it makes sense to return to a bar because the experience was sub-par, but I definitely plan to do that with the Hermes Bar. It just has too good of bloodlines for my experience to have been typical.

713 St Louis St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 581-4422
Est. 2009
Web site: http://www.antoines.com/hermes-bar.html - facebook
Reviews: gonola - nola.com - bestofneworleans

#2456 - The Abbey, New Orleans - 3/18/2014

The Abbey is open 24x7 and routinely included of lists of New Orlean's top dive bars. It is said to have been open since the 30s, to have once been a gay bar, and to have gotten Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt drunk. It is a happily dark, semi-gothy themed place that seems like it must have a lot of good stories. (I don't know any, but there there are couple here: tiltingsuds)

The Abbey, New Orleans, LA

1123 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 523-7177
Web site: facebook
Reviews: tiltingsuds - nola.com - yelp - thrillist - tripadvisor - bestofneworleans

#2455 - Coop's Place, New Orleans - 3/18/2014

Coop's Place, New Orleans, LA

"Where the not-so-elite meet to eat." Affordable Cajun food in a homey atmosphere.

Coop's Taster Plate - seafood gumbo, shrimp creole,
Cajun fried chicken, red beans and rice with sausage,
rabbit and sausage jambalaya

1109 Decatur St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 525-9053
Est. 1983
Web site: coopsplace.net - facebook
Reviews: theconstantrambler - penandfork - seriouseats - yelp - tripadvisor - neworleans.com 

#2454 - Cafe Lafitte In Exile, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

Cafe Lafitte's in Exile, New Orleans, LA

Cafe Lafitte in Exile in New Orleans claims to be the oldest gay bar in the country. While it is difficult to identify when the bar started catering primarily to gays, "Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop" was founded in 1933 by straight but gay-welcoming Roger 'Tom' Caplinger and his partners Harold Bartell and Mary Collins. "In Exile" authors Perez and Palmquist note:

'Although the bar could not be classified a "gay bar" as we think of that term today, it was as gay friendly as the times would permit.'

However when the building's owner died in 1951, the building was sold at auction and a new owner took over Lafitte's, and did not welcome gay patrons. "Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop" remains in business to this day in the location, now catering to (straight) tourists. In 1953 Caplinger and his partners opened "Cafe Lafitte in Exile," which welcomed his former patrons, and remains definitively a gay bar today. However, dating the current "Lafitte in Exile" as the same bar as Caplinger's original Lafitte's would be inconsistent with a more typical approach, where people routinely treat a bar business run by a series of owners under a single name and in a single location as the same bar. That is, the more established approach would be to count Caplinger's years in the Blacksmith location in the age of the bar still operating there, rather than in the age of the new one he opened a block down Bourbon Street two years later, even if his theme and most of his patrons moved with him. By these criteria the oldest gay bar in the United States is probably the White Horse Bar in Oakland (for more on this question, see this page.)

In any case, there is no question that the bar is packed with history, has been momentous and comforting in the lives of many gay men over many decades, and has served as a semi-regular haunt of many significant writers and artists. The gossipy history of "In Exile" quotes a patron about the two mostly famously associated with the bar:

“One evening I saw Truman Capote sitting at the bar talking with someone. I approached him and said, ‘I don’t mean to come on to you but I’ve always admired your work. My I buy you a drink?’ And he responded, ‘Only if you sit and have one with us.’ He was so sweet, not at all bitchy like some have said. He even signed a beverage napkin for me. Another time I saw Tennessee Williams standing by the flame. As I neared him I could see he was very, very drunk but I introduced myself anyway. He gave me a very limp handshake, like a dead fish, and mumbled something incoherently, which kind of grossed me out, and almost fell down in the process.”

Today it remains a comfortable hangout for gays or straights, with an "eternal flame" (part of a fountain before one owner tired of patrons using it in lieu of the loo) and friendly bartenders. I've lost the name of the bartender on the lazy Monday evening that I wandered in, but I recall a long, interesting chat about the bar, music, life, and New Orleans.



901 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 522-8397
Est. 1953 (current location)
Web site: lafittes.com - facebook
Reviews: nola - gaycities - yelp - tripadvisor - wikipedia - neworleansonline

#2453 - Oz, New Orleans - 3/17/2014

The biggest gay bar and dance club on Bourbon Street. Apparently the new owner is not beloved by all residents, but it remains quite the party.

800 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 593-9491                     
Est. 1993
Web site: ozneworleans.com - facebook
Reviews: curbed - gaycities - yelp - nola

#2452 - Johnny White's Bar (St. Peter St), New Orleans - 3/17/2014

Johnny White's Bar, New Orleans, LA

If your friends tell you to meet them at Johnny White's in the French Quarter, you're going to need some clarification. The eponymously named bars in the neighborhood include Johnny White's Pub and Grill, Johnny White's Hole in the Wall, Johnny White's Corner Bar, and, until recently, Johnny White's Sports Bar. But Johnny White's Bar on Saint Peter is the oldest and my favorite -- a little less frenetic and a little more dark and divey than the others.

Johnny White's Bar, New Orleans, LA

733 St. Peter, New Orleans, LA                                               
Web site: johnnywhitesfrenchquarter.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - tripadvisor