Mixologists: Love them? Hate them? Watch this video if you've yet to decide:
However, don't believe everything you see on YouTube - check out this bar to experience the real deal:
Bar Tonique
820 N Rampart Street (Edge of French Quarter, 1 Block off Bourbon St.)
Reason: Relaxed Mixology Bar
with incredible drinks.
Drink: Literally order anything.
Amazing, amazing drinks.
Drank: Gin Fizz – my favorite
version of my favorite
drink.
Drunk: Bourbon Snowball. My overriding love for
Snowballs overpowers my underlying hate of Bourbon. Precisely why it’s drink #3.
mindless musings:
I first dashed into Bar Tonique after about a month in Nola with my two newly acquired BFFs as we received a tipoff that Bruce Willis was there enjoying some libations. Unfortunately this high died quickly; the Die Hard star was nowhere to be found. Additionally, I had just left my boyfriend at the last bar, at 12am, to be driven in a taxi, half way across town, to a bar, with costly drinks, and no Red Bull, or pizza, on the menu. If it wasn’t for the open fireplace keeping me toasty or for the nice man “who worked in the movies” saying “I had nice boots and a good sense of fashion” – I would have considered the night a total bust.
However, despite my inability to even slightly appreciate Bar Tonique upon first experience, I did come away with one good piece of knowledge about it…which was that it existed. Fast forward five months later and I would have never driven a considerable distance from my house to meet up with a boy for a late night drink if I didn’t already know where the bar was (you can say I have a slight directional deficiency). Thus I agreed to meet this boy for a drink and proceed to experience one of my favorite mixology1 cocktail experiences to date.
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| The more economical options |
My appreciation of Bar Tonique formed rapidly that night as I had a slight insider’s advantage; the lucky lad who invited me was a former mixologist there (creator of: the fauxshaux!). Therefore, he was able to coach me on how to choose a drink from their delectably large and confusing menu that was perfectly tailored to my taste buds. After ordering two drinks for myself and sampling the two he ordered (yes, I’m a convicted sip stealer) I was convinced that I had found heaven in drink form.
Bar Tonique is a ways off the worn path of the New Orleans bar scene, but it is definitely a destination to be sought out. It’s only a couple of blocks off Bourbon Street but it’s surely not a bar that you would throw into the Bourbon Street night out mix (unless you crave juxtaposing bars/drinks/emotional states). Luckily the bar situates itself nicely on North Rampart Street and, relative to the other areas of the French Quarter, it’s not impossible to find a place to park.
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| My first Hot Toddy of the season in front of the fireplace |
Inside, post up around the bar to watch mixologists at work or sit along the perimeter of the bar on a plush bench or stool. Being that the bar is quite small, there is also a back room to provide additional seating and spacing to suit your fancy (unfortunately, I always try and remain in the center of the action, so really can’t tell you much about it). Personally, my favorite spot is on a bench, right smack in front of the fireplace; understandably, as I don’t like my body temperature to drop any lower than a cool 270 degrees.
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| You may not know what's in it but don't tell me it doesn't look delicious... |
Please consider that many first timers do get put off by this bar (as did yours truly) due to a menu laden with liquors, liqueurs, and licorice-flavored-libations that have yet to grace their lips. So first off, calm down, and don’t get discouraged. It’s not just you. Most normal people don’t know what st.@7tre*d mixed with jder%f*rhey and a splash of k^t*edfst#r is going to taste like. But someone in the group you came with might and I’m sure the bartender has a notion. Don’t feel like the bar is pretentious just because you pretend to be a cultured drinker by ordering Dos Equis at non-Mexican restaurants (Lager or Amber? Umm…I’ll have the one in the green bottle?). So suck it up and don’t suck up one of my favorite bars. Come order a Hot Toddy and sit by the fire with me, I’ll help you look through the menu, and we can try one of everything.
Ooh, baby, do you know what that’s worth? ($7-$12)
Ooh heaven is a place on Earth (820 N Rampart Street)
They say that in heaven love comes first (Perhaps a drink 1st and love 2nd)
We’ll make heaven a place on Earth (heaven is made by mixologists)
Ooh Bar Tonique is heaven on Earth.
“Laissez les bon temps rouler”
- Miss Mix-a-lot
Insider Tip:
Yes some of the drinks are a bit pricey but it’s because they consist of fine alcohol mixed with fine alcohol with few fillers involved; thus, the drinks are strong and totally worth it. I can’t say that I can afford to drink here every night, but I can say that if my date can, then I’m bound to let him stick around for a while.
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| The Periodic Table of Mixology. And that's why we have Mixologists; you have too much drinking to do to waste your time learning this. |
1How is bartending now called Mixology and when did my bartender become a Mixologist? Mixology has become a more common used term in recent years and is generally accepted to be a refined, higher study of mixing cocktails and drinks than the everyday actions of bartender. Some people think it’s pretentious, I think it’s a pretty damn good idea.
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