The signature cocktail of the original Rogue Cocktails, the Gunshop Fizz uses a full 2 ounces of Peychaud’s bitters.
• The backbar is home to a deep collection of spirits from all over the world, which Cure offers at fair prices and by the half-pour (1 ounce).
• The bar’s lively happy hour runs from 4 to 6 p.m. and 9:30 to 11 p.m. daily (except on Fridays and Saturdays when it runs from 3 to 6 p.m. only) and features $7 classic cocktails.
NICE TO KNOW
If the craving for a frozen drink strikes (and in NOLA, it will), Bodenheimer’s newest bar, Vals, offers excellent agave-based drinks, including a delightful frozen Margarita. Slightly farther afield, The Chloe’s generous front porch and back pool area are perfect for a frozen drink (from 3 to 5 p.m., they’re $8).
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
When one thinks of world-class cocktails in this city, there is one bar that has remained steadfastly atop that list for 15 years. Cure opened on a quiet block in Uptown as a home to puckish cocktails that challenged the revamped formulas already in rotation in New York and San Francisco. Bartenders like Kirk Estopinal (also a founder and owner) and Maks Pazuniak, who together would go on to self-publish the now-canon book Beta Cocktails (née Rogue Cocktails), and owner Neal Bodenheimer not only brought New Orleans’ cocktail culture into the 21st century, they revitalized an entire stretch of Uptown in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The bar went on to win just about every award the spirits and hospitality community has to offer, and sent many bartenders along to open their own bars in town. While many of the bar’s early “rogue” drinks still filter through the “Cocktails We Love” section of the menu, alongside the names of their creators, the bar has allowed itself to evolve with the talent behind the bar. As a result, it has remained a reliable, confident snapshot of the best of what NOLA has to offer.
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Around the corner on Grand Street, Fresh Kills (from Richie Boccato) has been quietly serving some of the best cocktails in Brooklyn for nearly a decade.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
• When outdoor seating is available, the wisteria-draped garden (book ahead on Resy) might fool you into thinking you’re somewhere between Louisiana and Provence.
• While Maison excels at the A-list classics, look closely and you’ll find lovingly executed takes on B-side hits, like the Yellow Parrot and the Obituary, that make the case for revival.
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Staff Favorite Dive Bars
Pete's Candy Store
I moved around the corner from Pete’s in 2008, and have found myself wedged into the bar’s tiny back music venue on countless nights since. The crowds may have changed, but Pete’s still maintains a bygone Williamsburg combo of grit, disaffection and surprise and delight. —Talia Baiocchi, editor-in-chief
Happyfun Hideaway
If you’re looking to make out on a dance floor, this no-frills, tropical-themed queer bar is the spot for you. —Irina Groushevaia, senior social media manager
7B Horseshoe Bar
7B stands out from the hoards of East Village icons not only because it opens at noon (ideal for killing time before, well, anything) but because it has one of the friendliest staffs of any bar, let alone dive, in the city. —Chloe Frechette, deputy editor
Sunny’s
This outer fringe of Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood is not easily accessible, but it’s worth a trip to experience a bar that’s been resurrected from the brink of closure several times. Live music starts most nights at 8 p.m., and there’s plenty of outdoor space for loitering. Don’t forget to bring cash. —Allison Hamlin, director of network development
An essential guide to the bars and retailers that have turned Oakland into an epicenter of progressive wine culture.
New York’s Essential Martinis
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An essential guide to the bars and retailers that have turned Oakland into an epicenter of progressive wine culture.
Cure has won just about every award the spirits and hospitality community has to offer.
The signature cocktail of the original Rogue Cocktails, the Gunshop Fizz uses a full 2 ounces of Peychaud’s bitters.
The Howitzer, the first original cocktail to be featured on a Cure menu, is a bourbon-based riff on the French 75.