During the winter holidays, Manolito makes a terrific version of an Eggnog Daiquiri, a regional classic.
• While it’s tempting to stick to the blended Daiquiris, do not sleep on the Swampwater, Manolito’s take on a bygone party drink marketed by Chartreuse in the 1970s.
• If you happen to be in NOLA during the winter holidays, Manolito makes a terrific version of an Eggnog Daiquiri, a regional classic.
NICE TO KNOW
If you’ve still got afternoon hours to spare, head to the historic Napoleon House, which has been in operation since 1914, for its signature Pimm’s Cup, or to Jeff “Beachbum” Berry’s Latitude 29 for tiki classics faithfully remastered.
NOTABLE AND NEARBY
The menu at Manolito is heavy on blended drinks as well as “thrown” classics.
Located along an unremarkable side street in the French Quarter, this sliver of a bar serves some of the city’s best Cuban-style cocktails. The brainchild of Nick Dietrich, Chris Hannah and Konrad Kantor, Manolito is a tribute to Manuel “Manolito” Carbajo Aguiar, who helmed the bar at Havana’s legendary El Floridita. Here, you’ll find a menu heavy on blended drinks (a handful of Daiquiris, a Hurricane, an Amaretto Sour), fixtures of Cuban bartending, alongside “thrown” classics like the El Presidente and Martini and, of course, your shaken Daiquiris and built-in-glass Mojitos. The drinks are all unpretentious and designed to beat the heat, but reveal the studied approach of Dietrich and Hannah in their execution. While the bar will expand its diminutive digs in 2024, we’d wager that it will still be the sort of place that inevitably spills out onto the street and has its way of stretching your afternoon into evening.
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The menu at Manolito is heavy on blended drinks as well as “thrown” classics.
During the winter holidays, Manolito makes a terrific version of an Eggnog Daiquiri.