Photographs by Bjarne Kris Haug and Darryl GladeAt center, T. Cole Newton at his bar in New Orleans, 12 Mile Limit.“I came here with AmeriCorps after the storm and never really left.” That’s the story of T. Cole Newton, a post-Katrina New Orleans transplant and the owner of 12 Mile Limit, a new bar in the Mid-City neighborhood that doubles as Newton’s own private cocktail laboratory. “This place has been a bar for 90 years,” he says, “and after the storm it was under two feet of water.” The people who used to own the place, he added, “threw a lot of wild parties here.” Cocktails are the specialty now, immensely creative drinks that celebrate the bartending history of New Orleans while embracing a new influx of ideas and characters. “Everyone becomes a New Orleanian, if you give them long enough,” Newton says. “Miss your flight, you’ll be here five years”.
The city’s bar scene is thriving, thanks to stories like these and bartenders like Newton, inspired by old standards and a desire to keep New Orleans in its rightful place as a major American cocktail destination. In advance of this month’s ninth annual Tales of the Cocktail event, here are five standout new establishments in the Crescent City, all opened post-Katrina.
12 Mile Limit (500 South Telemachus, Mid-City)
The bar scene at 12 Mile Limit plays fast and loose with preconceived notions as to what a high-end cocktail bar should be. There are no glowing Edison bulbs, no imported leather lounging nooks and no entree-priced cocktails. There are instead a pool table, several Louisiana State Lottery machines and an iron gate out front requiring patrons to be buzzed in — a matter of security rather than show. Mid-City is off the beaten path for most tourists, and even some cabdrivers, but those who sojourn out to Telemachus Street will be well rewarded for their troubles. 12 Mile Limit’s relative isolation and workaday charm begets enormous creativity, as the bartender and owner T. Cole Newton (formerly of Coquette) affords himself free rein with a creative, accessible cocktail program priced well below the national standard.
A new standout: Newton invites patrons to Name This Drink, a curious cocktail made with Rhum Agricole, orgeat, lime and Branca Menta, a minty spinoff of Fernet Branca. Also worth trying is the Cosa Nostra, made with Smith & Cross Rum, Catdaddy Moonshine from North Carolina, Fernet Branca and Carpano Antica sweet vermouth.
A classic take: The kitchen at 12 Mile Limit houses an independent bakery, Debbie Does Doberge, specializing in traditional French doberge cakes, a cantilevered layered pastry made with sweet pudding and poured icing. Not one to miss an opportunity, Newton offers select shots of high-end spirits paired with doberge cakes made in-house. It sounds odd, but the results are compelling; one recent example, Corzo Blanco Tequila with a lime pudding cupcake chaser, was an intense and intuitive take on the tequila-and-lime paradigm, with cake and pudding textures pleasantly numbing out the white-hot tequila burn.
“Bre’r Rabbit”, a specialty cocktail at Boucherie made with Jim Beam, molasses and green onion.Boucherie (8115 Jeannette Street, Uptown)
Opened in 2009, Boucherie is primarily known for the chef Nathaniel Zimet’s contemporary Creole menu, but complex and playful cocktails abound at the small back bar. A lovely view of the St. Charles trolley line’s evening resting place sets the relaxed tone.
A new standout: The Br’er Rabbit takes Jim Beam, Steen’s Molasses, Dolin sweet vermouth and a green onion twist. Instructs the helpful barman: “You take a sip, then take a bite of the onion … keep that spice on your tongue.”
A classic take: The Pony Trouble — like the world’s most complex gin and juice, made with Bols Genever, fresh grapefruit, a float of Mathilde Cassis liqueur and brandied cherries. Tart and velvet-soft.
The bar scene at Cure, both well-dressed and casual.Cure (4905 Freret Street, Freret neighborhood)
Part of the newly trendy scene on Freret Street, Cure is unabashedly high-end, striving for a fusion of Manhattan by the Mississippi. It’s an enormous space, all shadowy brick walls and lighting beneath the bar, the seating area dominated by a curvy, high-banked leather banquette. The ivy-lined outdoor jasmine garden patio is similarly spacious and chic.
New standouts: Chink in the Armour, a drink with yet more Genever, Lillet Blanc, honey, mole bitters and lemon. Fragrant front-end citrus notes are mellowed by the honey and the yawning, effortlessly relaxed texture of the Genever. Try also the Nanu Nanu, made with vodka, lime, grapefruit, absinthe and Potcheen, an Irish moonshine with flavor notes of banana and jet fuel.
A classic take: The Darroze Sidecar, served with top-shelf Francis Darroze Bas Armagnac and Combier orange liqueur.
Bar Tonique (820 North Rampart, French Quarter)
Bar Tonique sits on the lakeside cusp of the French Quarter, overlooking Louis Armstrong Park. Revelers from the Quarter spill in from time to time, but Bar Tonique is set just far enough away from the throngs of Bourbon Street so as to guarantee a locals-only vibe, well-suited to the bar’s exposed brick and flickering candlelight interior.
A new standout: Fringe Quarter Martini, a cocktail whose name befits Bar Tonique’s location on the Quarter’s outskirts. It blends Death’s Door gin, Dolin Vermouth de Chambery Blanc — fairly standard thus far — with lemon peel and, seemingly out of nowhere, an aromatic whiff of mint.
A classic take: Bar Tonique offers exemplary versions of several of the most beloved original cocktails in New Orleans. Its Sazerac, for example, employs Rittenhouse Rye 100, Herbsaint in place of absinthe, gum syrup, aromatic bitters and lemon peel. The Vieux Carre is similarly excellent, again made with Rittenhouse Rye 100, along with J. Cardin Cognac, Benedictine, bitters, lemon and Italian sweet vermouth.
Corzo Blanco Tequila chased with lime doberge cake bites at 12 Mile Limit.Sylvain (625 Chartres Street, French Quarter)
In the French Quarter, there are palaces and dives within which to imbibe, sometimes right on top of each other. Sylvain splits the difference; opened in the fall of 2010, the interior spins pre-World War II Americana together with a classic Quarter sensibility, a mélange of stuffed boars and quails, low lighting, ample bottle selections and an enormous 48-star American flag. The best seat in the house is at the copper-plated bar, with a front-row view of the bartenders at work.
A new standout: Aunt Rose’s Gingered Boom Boom. New Orleanian bartenders are mad about their Genever, an old-school liquor from the Low Countries that comes across like a softly muted gin. The Gingered Boom Boom takes Boomsah Genever, Domaine de Canton and Regan’s orange bitters, served up in a martini glass.
A classic take: Sylvain makes a fascinating and delicious Vesper, the cocktail originally invented under duress by James Bond. (No, really.) Sylvain’s uses both Death’s Door gin and vodka, vermouth in place of Lillet, and a simple orange peel for aromatics.
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