In addition to its namesake, French 75 bar offers a menu of original and classic cocktails.
• If you’d like an extra dose of New Orleans weirdness, ask the bartender to point you in the direction of the Mardi Gras museum upstairs.
• While you’re undoubtedly here for a French 75, don’t sleep on the Arnaud’s Special, a house original dating to the 1940s, which resides under the menu’s “Classics” header.
NICE TO KNOW
If you’re in the mood for absinthe (or just a cold beer in a historic space), head to the appropriately named Old Absinthe House (est. 1807). Or, if you’re feeling like extending the tour of grand interiors, Sazerac Bar is one of the great rooms in which to enjoy a Ramos Gin Fizz (or, of course, a Sazerac).
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
While the grand restaurant that sits adjacent to French 75 Bar, Arnaud’s, dates back to 1918, the history of French 75 Bar really begins in the late ’70s, when the space (formerly a gentlemen’s lounge) was converted to The Grill Bar. However, the bar as we know it today dates to 2003, when the space was renovated and renamed. A year later, renowned bartender Chris Hannah took the helm and, under his direction, turned French 75 Bar into a James Beard Award–winning NOLA institution, known as much for its perfected take on the eponymous French 75 as for its way with a host of familiar classics executed by white-jacketed bartenders. The space, decked out in animal print and enough polished mahogany to rival a stateroom on the Queen Mary, is one of the city’s best spots to lounge away an afternoon in style. And while Hannah has since moved on to open his own bar (see Manolito, below), French 75 Bar maintains the kind of only-in-New-Orleans quality that makes it an essential stop on any itinerary.
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French 75 Bar is one of the city’s best spots to lounge away an afternoon in style.