Cocktail Heaven in NOLA

As regular readers of this blog will know, I’m a fan of a well-made cocktail. So you’ll understand my excitement, when, after having just read this story in the NY Times about the vibrant cocktail scene in New Orleans, I found myself here this week. I ran over to SoBou – which stands for South of Bourbon Street – it’s the latest restaurant from the Brennan family that also happens to run Commander’s Palace and Cafe Adelaide, among several others. As you can see from the picture above, the bar is a temple to all things quaffable. Not only is there a “bar chef’s table” illuminated from below – a stage for future cocktail and food pairings – but the sheer array of spirits, juices and bitters would be enough to give the likes of Bradley Bolt and Charles Joly hours of inspired pleasure.

As good as their traditional sazerac was, we also jumped into a Ramos Gin Fizz and a number of other local favorites – cobblers, juleps, et al – that required a few snacks such as magnificently fried pork skins and crispy balls of boudin to soak some of them up.