Tales of the Cocktail Recap, Part Two

Rather than writing about the details of the seminars, I feel more like writing about more of our adventures in New Orleans. Drink along with me, won't you?

Another highlight from our Spirited Dinner at Antoine's was the Café Brulôt at the end of our meal. Served from a recently flaming punchbowl in a fantastic, traditional cup, this was a new experience for me. It was a strong (from both the spirits and the coffee), hot beverage, and a great finish for our evening. After all the other cocktails, I didn't finish mine, but it wasn't any reflection on the experience. Here are a couple of photos:


At right is our host St. John Frizell's lovely wife, Linden, mixing the flaming pot of Café Brulôt. Several folks had the opportunity to play with fire on this one.

Just for fun, here are a couple of other pictures that I took at Antoine's - there's a lot of history (and a lot of stuff in general) on the walls.


People of a certain age will recognize the one on the left, and the one on the right just struck me as odd until I did some quick research.

It was a wall of photos of the past Queens of the Krewe of Proteus in the annual Mardi Gras celebration (we were in the Proteus Room at Antoine's). Most of the women were flamboyantly dressed, and then there was Ms. Willey Denis with her cats. Turns out Dr. Denis was a very accomplished academic. Guess she just happened to like this picture of herself best (or it's the only one anyone could find) since it's the one Tulane has for her also.

The Court of Two Sisters
We found ourselves at this place a couple of times during our stay. The Court of Two Sisters has a beautiful courtyard (although the fountain looks kinda funny from the back), and an interesting old bar that's fun to see.

Unfortunately, the drinks weren't as good as I had hoped, despite the representations made by our New Orleans Cocktail Tour Guide on our second visit. The drinks were OK, but everything was pre-made rather than made to order, even when it wasn't busy, and they had signs up for Island Oasis mixes on the tables.


And Don't Forget the Fabulous French 75 Bar
One of best places we visited for cocktails was the French 75 Bar at Arnaud's. Of course we had the namesake cocktail (picture at left), which is made with cognac rather than gin - a nice change I hadn't tried before. And we had a great Sazerac there too, probably one of the best we've ever had. Definitely go there the next time you're in the Crescent City!