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Pub Clubbing in New Orleans
– Bourbon Street Bars!
Beads, breasts and
balconies come together like nowhere else on Bourbon Street.
Oh Lord! The Saints Win the Super Bowl!
Few places on Earth possess the year-round
party atmosphere as does New Orleans. And it all starts on Bourbon Street.
This is New Orleans' most famous street, the Amsterdam of America, a place dominated by drinks and drinkers where the cocktail
is king and bars stand side-by-side block after block. Weekdays are
hardly distinguishable from weekends. In most cities, the weekend starts
on a Thursday. In New Orleans, it has no beginning or end.
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Bars – Where the Locals Party
• Take
A Pub Crawl Aboard the St. Charles Street Car
Packed with people and bars, Bourbon Street is America's Greatest Party.
That Allan Jackson/Jimmy Buffett song "It's Five O'Clock somewhere"
has a home here. It's always Five O'Clock in New Orleans.
Bourbon Street is neither decadent nor elegant, seedy nor snazzy, cheesy
nor charming. It is simply a friendly block party and it goes on until
you decide to leave .
For some, the body says its time to leave far before the clock does;
for others, it's the last man (or woman) standing. In New Orleans, and
in particular on Bourbon Street, it's all a matter of mind, body and
soul and spirit(s).
 The
heart of Bourbon Street is only about 7 blocks in length, but it's an
intense seven blocks. Located right in the middle of the French Quarter,
it is a collection of bars, souvenir shops, more bars, strip clubs and
sex shows (though it hardly compares to the Red Light District of Amsterdam),
and even more bars. Sprinkled in are a few restaurants, jazz clubs and
hotels.
The bars range from dives to small clubs with live bands to places
with counters serving frozen drinks, beer and jello shots (some made
with Everclear). There is no cover charge at any of them, athough bars
with bands generally charge more for drinks. Often, people are allowed
to roam freely from one to the other arriving or departing with cocktails.Just
pour unfinished drinks in plastic "to go" cups and hit to
the street.
In between bar stops, people walk and gather on Rue Bourbon, many peering
up at the balconies for girls willing to lift their top for a peek at
their breasts in exchange for a string of Mardi Gras beads. People gather
by the hundreds to witness or participate and the balconies are packed
for hours on end. This scene reaches its peak, so to speak, in front
of the Cat's Meow.
Bourbon Street action starts early. The band-and-dance bars along the
St. Louis Street intersection offer 3-for-1 specials at Happy Hours
until 9 p.m. On nice days, all tables on the Pat O'Brien's garden patio
are full. (Hurricane Warning: They serve Hurricanes in the souvenir
glass in the daytime but will refund $3 if you turn it in when you leave.)
For New Year's Eve, Mardi Gras and JazzFest Bourbon Street is one of the World's Great Parties. This NYE, it is serving as Gator Bait for fans from Florida and Cincinnati (who created the Parrothead term) in town for the Sugar Bowl. Gator Chomp is going to be be seen on Bourbon Street.
The Bars of Bourbon Street [MAP]
The people party
all up and down Bourboin Street.
When it's time to get off the street and check out the bars, there
are multitude of choices.
The prime cut-loose bars for the young and dancing are the Cat's
Meow, The Famous Door, Razzoo, Bourbon Street Blues and
Utopia.
Cat's Meow is a wildly-uninhibited karaoke bar where drunk (or well
on their way to getting drunk) patrons take the stage and light up the
scene. Friends often "perform" in groups and the crowd sings
along and dances. Upstairs, it's a totally different scene. Cat's Meow
has that famous balcony where most of the bead-tossing guys and breast-showing
girls hang and hang out. On the street below, it's a madhouse. It has
karaoke on weekdays,, which is quite popular.
Live bands rock
the bars - and the people - up and down Bourbon Street.
 The
Famous Door, simply put, rocks. The bands go hard with Guns 'n Roses,
AC/DC and those bourbon Street favorites, Lynyrd Skynrd. Always crowded
and often packed, this one-room bar is one of the most lively on Bourbon.
Razzoo is often Bourbon Street's best pickup bar. In the front, a band
blasts out rock and dance tunes. In the back, people gather on the large
patio, the perfect place to meet and mingle.It's one of the rowdiest
bars on Bourbon. After about midnight it's rock beat turns to hip-hop.
Bourbon Street Blues might sound like a sedate blues club, but in reality
it is an energetic dance bar.
Also offering live music is the Krazy Korner. The bands are
rock 'n roll and party dance. Right around the corner from Pat O'Brien's,
it's aways a lively stop on the way back to Bourbon.
No trip to New Orleans is complete without a visit to Pat O'Brien's.
The Home of the Hurricane is actually three bars in one: The garden
patio with its signature fountain is like a giant outdoor house party,
the piano bar features two baby grands going crazy in "Howl at
the Moon" style and the side bar. The latter is often the most
fun. It has great music, a totally kick-back atmosphere and is filled
mainly with locals. There's no dance floor at Pat's, just hanging, drinking
and meeting (other than the piano bar's sit-down show).
Parties or partiers
make their way into the bars, and they are always smiling..
The drink of choice at Pat O'Brien's is the Hurricane, a red rum mixture
that has made this bar famous well outside of New Orleans. Drinks are
more expensive in the piano bar, incidentally.
The second-most famous drink on Bourbon Street is the Hand Grenade.
It's served up at a Jimmy Buffett-style bar called Tropical Isle,
and it's ingredients are a closely-guarded national secret (or so they
pretend). Let's just say it's green and potent – they promote it
as New Orleans' strongest drink – and the tall plastic green cups
in which they are served can be seen all over Bourbon Street. Go in
or get 'em to go from the side window bar. There's also good food –
wings and great half-pound cheeseburgers with a stack of fries.
The Tropical Isle has a pretty good band, a small and crowded dance
floor and a balcony for bead tossing/retrieving. It also has a small
sister location around the corner on Toulouse Street that is preferred
by locals. It usually has one guy on stage playing lots of Buffett.
Late at night, after many of the restaurants and even some bars begin
to close, staffers make their way to Johnny White's at the end
of Bourbon. A small bar with a pub and balcony upstairs, it has an Aloha
spirit because the owner is from Hawaii.
The Pirate bar, just down from the Bourbon Street Tropical Isle,
is to people in their 40s and 50s what the Cat's Meow, Razzo's and Bourbon
Street Blues is to people in their 20s and early 30s. That is to say,
a prime place to drink and meet.
New Orleans is known for its jazz and the city's best place for it
is the Funky Butt on Rampart.
French Quarter Bars and Locals' Hangouts
 Where
the heck is Margaritaville? In New Orleans, it's at the end of Decatur
Street, just down from Cafe du Monde and across from the Farmer's Market.
Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville Cafe heads the list of other French
Quarter bars. It indeed serves up cheeseburgers and cold draft beer,
but mainly what it has is Jimmy Buffett. From tables featuring his album
covers to the non-stop videos to the music, it's a Parrothead's paradise.
The place seems to be modeled after one of Buffett's favorite places,
Captain Tony's Saloon in Key West, because on a hot and muggy day you
just want to go in there to get out of the heat. In the small Storyville
Cafe bar at the back, it's easy to get wasted away to the live music
from the local musicians. At the upstairs bar, life is really just a
tire swing. And yes, Jimmy himself does occasionally stops in and does
the odd show every couple of years. Tons of tourists make Margaritaville
a mandatory stop at least once. And often quite more often.
Across the street is a locals' dive, Coops. A small place with
brick walls, a brick floor and wood tables, it can boast to having New
Orelans' Best Bloody Mary and Best Margarita. The latter is made
by Faye, who works only Thursdays-Saturdays. The former is served by
a skinny bartender who smokes and wears a beret and plays in a band.
He works Sunday-Wednesday. The food is great – big burgers,
tasty red beans and rice with fried chicken and the heartiest gumbo
in the city. Order off the big menu on the wall, not the printed menu.
Oddly, this locals' and part-tourist dive bar has wireless Internet.
Another bar that's one of the Best French Quarter Hangouts Not On Bourbon
Street is a small place called The Alibi. Located on Iberville
just off Bourbon, it is where locals in the lower Quarter go to hang.
It has the city's most extensive international beer selection – Germany,
England, Scotland, Canada, just to name a few represented countries
– and it's casual style attracts waitresses and bartenders from
the nearby restaurants who come in after work. The Alibi is also one
of the few places in the Quarter that serves food past 11 p.m.
The food is meodicre, the service suspect and it's in a total tourist
location – on Decatur right by Jackon Square – but at least
the owner of The Corner Oyster Bar & Grill has had the foresight
to hire the city's Most Outstanding-Looking Staff, outside of Hooter's
anyway. How good-looking: They sell a calendar of the bartenders and
waitresses.
O' Flatery's is a mellow Irish club with music and dancing.
Over on Chartres Street, some of the cheapest drinks in town are served
at The Chart Room. Not to be at all confused with that upscale
American restaurant chain with a similar name, the Chart Room is an
old bar that looks like it will fall down. But it's a popular locals'
spot for Happy Hour and mid-to-late nights. It's a classic local bar
– cold, cheap beer ($2.50 for imports), patrons who look likely
to have their heads on the bar before too long and a bartender who has
probably been there since the place opened.
A couple of blocks up the street (at St. Louis) is one of the most
historic buildings in town. Napoleon House, which was built for
but never lived in by the famous French leader, is both a bar and a
restaurant. Classical music plays in a classical setting. The bar area
is open to the street and the restaurant has the kind of patio one envisions
when thinking of New Orleans. It is a good place for a few drinks or
a meal – the jambalaya is among the best in town and at $4.95 it's
also the cheapest. Be prepared for the very deliberate French service.
Toulouse Street, about halfway down Bourbon, has four good bars (go
toward the Mississippi River).
The Gold Mine is a weekend-only late-night dance club. Try the
Flaming Dr. Pepper.
The Dungeon could almost be The
Bartender's favorite New Orleans bar. It's neat and funky.
The entrance is a narrow hallway that opens up into a small patio with
a tiny waterfall. Upstairs has a bar and dance floor that plays kickass
rock and punk tunes of the patrons' choice. It is black and dark and
has the feel of, well, a dungeon. But it also has this Big Brother thing
to it. You can't do shots with the bartender/music girl, photos are
not allowed and there are Secret Service-style security guys with headsets
watching over everyone as if they are suspected terrorists. At least
there's no trouble in the place, a contrast to its past when the bikers
from the bar across the street used to come in and act like drunken
bikers.
For live music, locals once loved to love the Shim Sham Club. It's
currently The Joker, which has live music, often with a heavty
cover charge. We include it mainly for nostalgia purposes; the original
had awesome local bands, some of which din't even go on until 3 a.m.
Whenever the Shim-Shamettes took the stage, the place went nuts. These
20 girls put on an old-style striptease show.
Business casual people in search of a martini find them in abundance
at Bombay Club. It's a classy piano bar with a menu of smooth
and sensational martinis.
For live music – and people here love to hear live music –
is Tipitina's and the House of Blues. There are two Tipitina's
locations: the one at 233 N. Peters is the original and the one on Decatur
Street is only open when bands are playing. Tipitina's generally hosts
wildly popular local bands such as The Radiators and The Neville Brothers,
all of which have an almost cult following.
The House of Blues books name national rock acts. On Mondays, it's
SIN Night (Service Industry Night) and while there's no band, the place
is packed with locals from other bars and restaurants enjoying a night
off from work.
Just another night
on Bourbon Street.
 Next
Stop on the Party Bus: The Locals' Bars!
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