#2465 - Bamboula's, New Orleans - 3/19/2014

Bamboula's, New Orleans

Frenchmen street was named for five French revolutionaries who sparked the first anti-colonial revolt in the Americas, and for their efforts were executed by the Spanish on this very street in 1769. One step into Bamboula's and it is easy to sense its role in a modern battle for the soul of Frenchmen St.

The place feels like it was meant to be a huge party place, with tourists downing sugary drinks from outsized, kitchy containers, with names like "Purple Gators," and stumbling on to the next destination. Of course this stokes fears among locals that the area is becoming another Bourbon Street, and these capacious new clubs rumble into skirmishes engaged now on the battlefields of opinion pieces and licensing restrictions.

Bamboula's, New Orleans

From my position overlooking the conflict, I am compelled to support the side resisting the blitzkrieg of large nightclubs moving in. By the time I first visited New Orleans, the Frenchman Street area was nigh perfect. "It's where the locals go out," we were repeatedly informed, as if they were especially selecting us to be let in on the secret. And it was easy to see why: the nights were humming with small venues like the Spotted Cat, Snug Harbor, and Blue Nile, churning out hot jazz in lovely, intimate settings, with a late street art market lit by string-lights, and little evidence of the crass excesses of Bourbon.  For someone who loves to make the occasional visit, there was absolutely no question about your desire to preserve it as is.

Then again, I would not have a very good answer for Andre Laborde. I read about Andre in some online articles, most notably a couple in the Times-Picayune by Richard Webster. The building that holds Bamboula's used to be LaBorde’s Printers. It's been owned by Andre's family since 1945. Andre was born here in 1958, just as the thriving business area was collapsing into squalor. He tells Webster, "When I was 10 years old I would stand on Frenchmen lighting firecrackers and I was the only one on the street. On Halloween we'd literally have nobody out there."

Andre now leases the building to the owners of Bamboula's, and he's supported their efforts to get licensed to focus on music and drinks rather than a restaurant, because it is the former that brings in the crowds. "Someone asked me why I didn't lease the space to a hardware store or a bakery," he tells Webster, "I had a 'for lease' sign out there for 14 months and no one came to talk to me about putting in a bakery. Southern Living magazine named this one of the hottest streets in the world for music. It wasn't named the hottest street for hardware stores or say, 'If you want Kaiser rolls go to Frenchmen Street.'" (Ibid)

Some of this is probably inevitable in any thriving city, and while we may try to hold back the sterile condos and bewail the loss of character and affordability in one neighborhood after another, we must also admit that these problems pale when compared to neighborhoods and cities going the other direction. Residents of the Lower Ninth Ward must pine for problems like over gentrification. But the fact that there are worse fates should not dissuade us from being wary of forces that can eliminate the character and personality that made people want to these places in the first place, especially in places as important as New Orleans.

And so, finally, I get back to Bamboula's. It will never be one of my favorite places, but Bamboula's is here, and one of the great things about New Orleans is choice, which definitely includes the possibility of the right band or friends pulling me into Bamboula's and having another great time in the city. As C.W. Cannon notes, "What makes Frenchmen Street a more exciting total experience than similar thoroughfares in Nashville, Memphis, or Austin, is the same thing Bourbon Street has going for it: public drinking. It turns a street rife with music clubs into a unified festival experience that takes root in the public space and thus defines an entire area." (thelens)  Any new option can add to that experience, and while our visit on this particular night was unremarkable, on any given day any with nightly live music in the French Quarter or Marigny can be part of something sublime.


514 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 944-8461
Est. 2013
Web site: bamboulasnola.com - clubbamboulas.com - facebook
Reviews: axs - yelp - tripadvisor
Changes in Frenchmen Street:  nola.com -  thelensnola - nola.com - myneworleans

#2464 - Three Muses, New Orleans - 3/19/2014

Three Muses opened in 2010 in an intimate space right on Frenchman Street in the Marigny, with live music, local beers, finespun cocktails, and a menu of elegant international small plates meant to be shared. The limited spaces are quickly filled in the evening but well worth seeking out.

Three Muses, Frenchmen Street, New Orleans

Three Muses, Frenchmen St, New Orleans

Three Muses, Frenchmen Street, New Orleans

536 Frenchmen St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 252-4801
Est. 2010
Web site: 3musesnola.com - thethreemuse.com - facebook 
Reviews: neworleans.com - yelp - neworleansonline

#2463 - Fritzel's European Jazz Pub, New Orleans - 3/19/2014

Fritzel's, the oldest running jazz club in New Orleans, was established in 1969 by Gunter "Dutch" Seutter and it still features traditional Dixieland jazz seven nights a week right on Bourbon Street.

733 Bourbon St, New Orleans, LA 70116 - (504) 586-4800
Est. Oct 1969 - Building constructed: 1831
Web site: fritzelsjazz.net - facebook
Articles ranked: gonola - neworleansisamazing - nola.com - yelp - allaboutjazz - culturetrip - neworleansonline

#2462 - Dry Dock Cafe, New Orleans - 3/19/2014

Dry Dock Cafe, Algiers, New Orleans

A family cafe with a cozy bar area that feels like a 70s fern bar, the Dry Dock serves some nice gumbo and crawfish and traditional bar foods along with New Orleans staples. The video on the cafe's web site says you'll meet some characters, and indeed we did. But the most animated conversation was over the re-stocking of the cigarette machine -- who smoke what, what I never seen no one buy, and punctuated with a lot of "What I'm trying to tell ya"s -- and which lasted virtually our entire lunch.

133 Delaronde St, Algiers neighborhood, New Orleans, LA 70114 - (504) 361-8240
Est. 1989
Web site: thedrydockcafe.com - facebook
Reviews: yelp - nola.com - nola.com - untappd - bestofneworleans

#2461 - Old Point Bar, New Orleans - 3/19/2014

Old Point Bar, Algiers, New Orleans

From the Canal Street terminal it's just $2 to take a ferry across the Mississippi to the old Algiers neighborhood, settled in 1719 and annexed by New Orleans in 1870. Like the French Quarter itself, there are lots of pretty old houses and buildings to look at, many Victorian style, constructed shortly after a devastating fire in 1895. If you're only going to visit for a couple hours or so, you can go in the evening and enjoy good music at the Old Point Tavern most every night, and without a cover. We chose to go during the day, when we could take in a bit more of suggested walking tours, but the Old Point was nevertheless our primary destination.

Old Point Bar, Algiers, New Orleans

The site of the Old Point hosted a bar as far back as the 1840s, although then the saloons were usually described as "coffee houses" in the city directories. The current building opened as a dry goods store in 1905. It became Johnny's Bar in the 70s, and has remained one since. It doesn't have much food, and the drinks are unremarkable, but it is a picturesque dive -- enough that some of the locals refer to it as "Hollywood East" and "the most filmed bar in New Orleans." Films that used it include "Ray," "The Expendables," "Green Lantern," "Contraband," and "Seeking Justice." But on most days it is a quiet, comfortable, neighborhood dive, with a small mix of tourists and Algerines ("AL-jer-reens"), and we chatted with Algerines Jeremy and Sammy. Sammy is a Seahawks fan, friends with several Seattle bands, and, we learned, the owner of the house we passed by with the crazy front yard including a live turkey. We liked the personality and the personalities of the bar and recommend it and the Algiers Point area for anyone who would enjoy a few tranquil hours from the French Quarter.

Old Point Bar, Algiers, New Orleans

Sammy

Sammy's Yard

Sammy's Turkey

545 Patterson Dr, New Orleans, LA 70114 - (504) 364-0950
Est. ? - Building constructed: 1905
Previous bars in this location: Johnny's
Web site: oldpointbarnola.com - facebook
Articles Ranked: link - crescentcitysoul - nola.com - gonolatv (video) - yelp  - countryroads - culturetrip - bestofneworleans

#2460 - Sobou, New Orleans - 3/18/2014

Since Owen Brennan opened his eponymous French restaurant on Bourbon Street in 1946, the Brennan family has extended it's reputation across more than a dozen highly regarded restaurants, including about ten in New Orleans. The branch of the family that has been running Commander's Palace (and launched the careers of chefs like Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Laggase) established Sobou ("South of Bourbon") in June of 2012, as a more modern and more casual stop. There is more of an emphasis on small plates and cocktails, with the latter program run by Abagail Guillo, whom they lured from Brooklyn's Fort Defiance. This includes three tables with self-serve beer taps and Napa machines offering 16 wines by the ounce. The entire dining room glows with gold-lit shelves of antique bottles, most apparently from the Museum of the American Cocktail.

I did not have time for dinner on this visit and I've lost my notes on my drinks, but I do recall quite enjoying them, and it would be hard to go wrong on your drinks or food with this staff behind them.

310 Chartres St, New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 552-4095
Est. June 25, 2012
Web site:  sobounola.com
Articles ranked: foodarts - bestofneworleans - myneworleans - neworleanswill - nytimes - wgno - frenchquarter (Brennan family) epicurious - nola.com - yelp

#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