One is never far from a quality Sazerac or French 75 in New Orleans, but the city's top mixologists are usually found behind the bars at upscale restaurants and old-school hotels. Now this classic cocktail city has a modern destination tailored for discerning drinkers: Cure.
Co-owner Neal Bodenheimer built his Uptown bar in a striking restored firehouse, whose interior features soaring arches and a mammoth, backlit bar. There, his crew of rising-star bartenders push the envelope with bold modernizations of classic recipes.
Their Bootsy Collins, a sprightly "long" margarita created with lime, agave nectar and rhubarb bitters, makes the sultry New Orleans summer bearable. More serious imbibers savor the Crutch Cocktail, mixed with Cognac, St-Germain and Dubonnet.
Lest you go hungry, glorified bar snacks include the "cochon panini"--made with suckling pig, spicy kimchi and pork-cracklin' mayonnaise--and the crab roll, a Gulf Coast nod to the lobster original.
Try your hand at a New Orleans-inspired libation with Cure's reinterpretation of the Creole Cocktail, made here with the city's signature spirit: rye whiskey.
Creole Cocktail
Recipe from Cure, New Orleans
Makes 1 drink
Ice
1 1/2 ounces rye, preferably Sazerac 6-year-old
1 ounce sweet vermouth, preferably Cinzano Rosso Vermouth
1/4 ounce Luxardo Amaro Abano
1/4 ounce Benedictine
Lemon twist, for garnish
Fill a pint glass with ice. Add the rye, vermouth, amaro and Benedictine and stir until chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass and garnish with the lemon twist.
Cure, 4905 Freret St., New Orleans; 504-302-2357 or curenola.com
