In search of creative cocktails [title edited by CH Team]

[BlueBerryChill]

Hi! I'll be in New Orleans next month. I'm looking for places to in the FQ or Garden District area to try some really good, creative martinis, or just name some places that are well-known for their martinis. Thank you.

[edible complex]

Marigny Brasserie has a good cocktail list. They have had some changes in the kitchen and I haven't been since to try them out, but the drinks should be the same. They had a good little bar menu that you could try at happy hour. cheers!

[gastrotect]

Cure is more Uptown than Garden District, but it is a great cocktail bar. I haven't had a martini there, but considering the quality of the bartenders I can't imagine they are anything but excellent.

[freckleface782]

Try the Lychee Martini at Sake Cafe Uptown, on Magazine Street. They put an entire lychee inside the martini glass! but be careful, its very strong.

[kukubura]

We were at Commander's for lunch a few days ago and we spent some time at the bar before we ate. The bartender made my wife a martini that had hibiscus tea in it that she had brewed herself from hibiscus flowers. It was a beautiful purple color and tasted really good.

We had more regular martinis with lunch, but at 25 cents a pop you can add your own creativity!

[Indy 67]

I'll enthusiastically recommend the Sweet Tea Martini at MiLa. In fact, I'll recommend everything about MiLa. Loved their sweetbread appetizer and their seared tuna with pomegranate molassas. DH is still rhapsodizing about their duck.

[ScarlettNola]

You could try CURE or Bar Uncommon. Both of these places have excellent bartenders who are considered mixologists who like many of us, revere the art of the cocktail. I am certain you may find what you are looking for. You may want to try a Sazerac or Ramos Gin Fizz, which are both indigenious to the New Orleans area. Good luck!

[hazelhurst]

The Picayune had an article today about Sazerac Co. acquiring new bourbons....I've never used their stuff but had supposed that it was rye. Odd that a drink made with rye (and you can cheat with bourbon) should have a company name using bourbon--excellent bourbon, I am told, but bourbon nonetheless

[Frolic]

The Sazerac company makes lots of liquors, including several expressions of Sazerac rye, along with Herbsaint, Peychaud's bitters and a long list of excellent bourbons.

[ScarlettNola]

I really like it. I was not aware that Sazerac Company makes Herbsaint and Peychauds bitters. It is funny that I can find the Sazerac Rye and Peychauds bitters easily, but have difficulty finding Herbsaint. I really don't like using Absinthe in my Saz, as it is very pricey, and I generally swirl it in the cup and dump it out.

[iluvtennis]

To bywatertim, If you aren't being serious, why would you post this to someone who is just trying to ask a question? If you think their inquery is silly, then just don't respond.

[ScarlettNola]

Serious or not, these are definetly "creative" martinis. I think there are lots of great suggesions on here for BlueBerryChill to mull over. BlueBerryChill...Hope you have a great time in NOLA. There are probably a lot of threads you can search for best cocktails as well. My brother (who is in his mid-20s) recommended Ampersand, but it is more of a nightclub/lounge or Whiskey Blue at the W Hotel.

[kibbles]

except w/ a rigid, unyielding definition, very little can ever change. ex: the original martini was gin. well, what do you call it when gin is replaced w/ vodka? most of the world calls this a "vodka martini" and the original a "gin martini". right there the language has evolved alongside the people's tastes...as language is meant to do :)

thus we invent additional and more granular categories of definition and categorization. as the human brain is wired to do....

[nola17]

is this place a joke?

http://www.copelandssocialcity.com/dr...

that is one of the most offensive drink lists i've ever seen in my life.

to the original poster - try the Swizzle Stick in the Lowes Hotel - that may be right up your alley.

[ScarlettNola]

I do think it is serious but I don't think Bywater Tim is. The drink list is pretty hysterical though. It reminds me of drinks from a frat party in college that were generally served in a punch bowl. I think I will try the "Sex in the Bathroom" or perhaps the "Porn Star". Very classy. What in God's name where they thinking??

[Ima Wurdibitsch]

Not even ONE of those "martinis" has gin as an ingredient.

Hmmph.

They're cocktails.

[kibbles]

if we want to get technical... then technically without bitters as an ingredient they arent cocktails, either.

however, as language is continually evolving ("vodka martini") i think ill let it slide... :)

[hazelhurst]

You raise a good point although I think the bitters-for-cocktail detail is lost now..still, keep fighting. I still KNOW that "hopefully" is an adverb. I still a argue that martinis are gin. it is true that language changes but there must always be someone who resists and makes the mob wash over the battlements. Sometimes, the defenders can win. If you disagree,call me on the Ameche

[kibbles]

the "premier restaraunt and social venue of New Orleans", eh... if you say so! :)

me, id hit up Bombay Club for their menu of 100+ martinis (sorry invinotheresverde, language is an always-changin beast). Bar Tonique at 820 Rampart and Iris both have mixologist style cocktail inventions.. and while a chain and quite expensive, Morton's has some really memorable martinis with passion fruit foam.

er problems w/ address feautre... heres Bombay Club - http://www.thebombayclub.com/

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Iris
321 North Peters Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

Morton's The Steakhouse
365 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130