Back in my beloved New Orleans. Newcomers are minimal enough in a given year that I can catch up on them on my annual visits. Restaurants open at a steadier clip (though not at all like the pace at home), while new cocktail bars are few. Alongside the likes of Treo (better for food than cocktails) and Barrel Proof (a… Read more →
My Summer 2014 feature for Distiller Magazine on New Orleans, with an 11-page print spread, my photos and four articles: My article on 10 of Nola’s great bars here & here My interview with Chris Hannah at Arnaud’s French 75 Bar My interview with Atelier Vie‘s founder/distiller, Jedd Haas, here My interview with Darek Bell of Corsair Distillery in Nashville… Read more →
In one of the greatest (though far from the largest or diverse) food cities on earth, New Orleans is great first and foremost because of its truly one-of-a-kind spirit and verve. It’s sensual magic envelops me every visit, haunting me when I’m away. This translates to its cuisine – truly unique, historically formed from an array of cultures that give… Read more →
Back for Tales of the Cocktail in my beloved city of New Orleans, my last visit yielded these standout drinks at some new and some not-so-new spots (the latest on food and dining in Nola here). KINGFISH, French Quarter Wherever bartender Chris McMillian tends, I would go. As the consummate, lifelong bartender who showed me back in a 2008 visit… Read more →
Another year, another few hundred bar menus tasted and perused around the globe. This year was the most full yet: I visited over 25 cities in 10 different countries. Which means weeding through best tastes is even more complicated. Given the vast range, I have three 2013 lists (more for best in food/dining here): 12 Best New Bars in San… Read more →
My Fall/Winter 2013 Distiller Magazine interview with four national craft distillers — and Ann Tuennerman, founder and executive director of Tales of the Cocktail, on how to navigate Tales of the Cocktail, the biggest and most intense cocktail event in the world. Article here. Save Read more →
Another year, another Tales. Tales of the Cocktail was another mad frenzy of a week in oppressive heat (though not as bad as in past years), drinking while getting educated on drink with thousands of people around New Orleans. Any reason to return to my beloved New Orleans (which I’ve written about extensively) is a worthy one. Best moments this… Read more →
Exploring New Orleans restaurants extensively in recent years, as far as I’m concerned, the city offers some of the best cuisine in the world. When it comes to cocktails, as with food, Nola is blessedly averse to trends and unusually respectful of history, so even through dark ages of cocktails (1960’s-90’s), New Orleans’ cocktail classics like the Sazerac, Ramos gin… Read more →
Returning to my beloved New Orleans, a city I’ve explored extensively via a path laden with jazz, Dixieland, Zydeco, Ramos Gin Fizzes, Sazeracs, Cajun and Creole food, there were ever more finds, both new and classic. The sweltering humid heat of July during Tales of the Cocktail is not ideal weather to fill up on po boys and boudin, but… Read more →
It was another humid, sweltering year at Tales of the Cocktail in New Orleans, the world’s biggest cocktail event, drawing thousands of global attendees for a relentless week of tastings, seminars and parties in the great queen of the South. Any reason to be in Nola is a good one and with the city overrun with some of the… Read more →