Bacchanal Fine Wine & Spirits
"This place started as a wine store with a few tables in the backyard. It recently added an upstairs bar, which feels like a tree house. I just tried the Pinky Tuscadero, with Lillet Rosé, Campari, orange bitters and Champagne: silly name, serious drink." bacchanalwine.com
Dante's Kitchen
"Chef Eman Loubier pushes boundaries with his food, and he cares about cocktails, too. The Pirogue mixes white rum, gin, lager, kaffir lime leaves, Thai chiles and grape skin liqueur. Loubier makes that liqueur with grapes left over from muscadine sorbet (which is also to die for)." danteskitchen.com
Lucky Rooster
"This new restaurant serves Asian street-market foods and good-looking cocktails. The drinks have paper umbrellas and all manner of stuff perched on top, but the cocktails, like the Lucky Cobbler—sherry, pineapple shrub and clove tincture—are well executed." luckyroosternola.com
SoBou
"Our newest restaurant, SoBou (short for 'south of Bourbon'), has a beer garden out back with taps built into the tables, but the place was designed around our cocktails. Abigail Gullo (photo) created the rye-and-brandy-based Taylor Bird Sazerac, named after the men who invented the Sazerac." sobounola.com
Sylvain
"Swear to God, I chose the location for SoBou so it'd be close to Sylvain! After a long night at work, I nibble on pappardelle Bolognese: The owners told me it's Mario Batali's recipe—boy, it's good. I also like the Bourbon Crusta (Bulleit bourbon, lemon, sugar, orange bitters)." sylvainnola.com
Wayfare
"I went here recently with a big group. There are meat pies—a New Orleans street food—which paired well with our drinks. I had a Pork Belly Bourbon old-fashioned. It had been a long day." wayfarenola.com