Anne’s Street and Bourbon to have a whiskey at The Bourbon Street Pub, where I had my first kiss as a teenager (I won’t say how old I was, or how I got in, but I will admit that I was sitting on a trashcan and watching a Natalie Imbruglia music video). First, we visited Cafe Lafitte in Exile, the oldest continually operated gay bar in the United States, which counted Noel Coward and Tennessee Williams among its regulars and still has a solid happy hour after all these years. I’m sure you could get drunk from slipping in the gutter.Īfter grabbing some artichoke and mushroom pizza at Angeli, one of my sister’s favorite places to grab a quick bite after a long night out, we decided to hit the gay bars. It was a chilly night, so not many revelers were out, but the street still smelled like the oldest dive bar you’ve ever been in. We walked the length of Bourbon Street, basking in the neon and jazz emanating from every bar.
Our waitress tipped us off that we could turn in our empty signature glasses for a partial refund. We enjoyed the cheesy dueling pianos for a minute, but decided to take our drinks and go exploring, as it’s legal to drink on the street in New Orleans. Next, we stopped in Pat O’Brien’s for one of their famous Hurricanes, a mysterious rum punch that packs a serious punch-make sure to pace yourself here. Napoleon never made it, but both my grandfather and my father would sit at the bar by the entrance every time they visited the city. You can taste the history in everything in this city The Napoleon House, for example, is in a 200-year-old building where Napoleon was invited to live while he was in exile. Make sure you bring cash to tip the performers, and to pay your bill, as Dumonde is cash only.įrom there we ventured to The Napoleon House to begin our drinking tour of The Quarter with a famous Pimm’s Cup, which is a gin based aperitif mixed with fresh lemonade, 7 up, and a sliver of cucumber. Located next to Jackson Square with its famous tarot card readers and psychics, local musicians will often come and perform for the tourists seated on the patio, which is covered in a thin silt of powdered sugar at all times. We hopped in an Uber and an elderly grandmother with a Cajun accent took us to the Decatur, where I began our tour of the quarter with beignets and chicory coffee at Café Dumonde, a fixture of my childhood. We sat on the sun-drenched deck and enjoyed vegetarian breakfast tacos with “Villa Arcos” sauce and grilled toast with goat cheese, pistachios, chili flakes, and honey. We grabbed a late breakfast at Pagoda Cafe on Dorgenois Street, a neighborhood favorite with just the right blend of local flavor and hipster flair. Just east of The French Quarter, Tremé is filled with beautiful architecture, with unique homes painted in a vivid array of colors. I’d stayed with our host Jordan and her adorable cat in the past, and she gave us a great intro to the neighborhood’s history and culture. Although there are many great luxury hotels in The French Quarter (the Hotel Monteleone being a family favorite, not to mention a favorite of the late Tennessee Williams), we chose to stay at an AirBNB in Tremé to save money-we are planning a wedding, after all.