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Abbey
The riffraff congregating in this atmospheric Decatur St dive tend to dress in black. The place has a faded and jaded port of call feel to it, with blasé female bartenders, transient hipsters and shifty-eyed characters. You needn't be pierced or tattooed to fit in, but a little Joe Strummer/Suicide Girl swagger won't hurt.
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Bombay Club
The most cultured place for a drink in the Quarter, they specialize in high-priced martinis.
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Bourbon Pub & Parade Disco
Smack dab on Bourbon St is this gay bar with a very popular happy hour. At night, it's a loud and bawdy scene that spills out onto the street. You can head to the upstairs dance club and watch the scene from the balconies.
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Carousel Bar
At this smart-looking hotel bar, inside the historic Monteleone, everyone's a comic until they realize the barkeeps have heard 'em all before. No, you don't get to sit on a painted horse. Hey, how come the stools don't go up and down? What!? No blaring mechanical orchestra?! The circular bar does revolve and it is canopied by the top hat of the 1904 World's Fair carousel, complete with running lights, hand-painted figures and gilded mirrors.
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Carrollton Station
An old stalwart on the Riverbend club scene, Carrollton station has the tumble-down exterior you'd expect from a Mississippi Delta juke joint. The club's musical offerings don't really deliver on that promise. You'll generally encounter a very young, white crowd shakin' it to bluesy bar bands. Just a good co-ed party atmosphere.
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Coffea
For a great cup of joe in a laidback, artsy hang, try Coffea, owned by a local painter and harmonica virtuoso.
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Cooter Brown's Tavern & Oyster Bar
Cooter's is a Riverbend local that takes its beer seriously, serving over 40 draft brews and hundreds of international bottled brews. College kids, local characters and Uptown swells drop in for a few brews, freshly shucked oysters, or to shoot pool or watch sports on TV.
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Country Club
There's no golf course here. Down in the Bywater, this historic mansion has been converted into a gay frat house, replete with a large swimming pool in the back yard. It's a low-key hangout by day and more of a clubby scene by night. Clothing is not altogether forbidden on the patio, where guys and dolls tend to strip down and erase those tan lines. Indoors things are a bit more refined, with frequent shows.
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Dungeon
Got to admit, this place made us a little nervous at first. It doesn't open till the witching hour, and some of the bouncers have filed their teeth into pointy Dracula fangs. Then we observed the words 'Ye Olde' in small type on the sign out front. So this is really just 'Ye Olde Dungeon,' which doesn't sound so threatening afterall. Having descended into the club's basement chambers, we found actual Goths outnumbered by yuppies and bikers.
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Ernie K-Doe Mother-In-Law Lounge
R&B singer Ernie K-Doe passed away in 2001, but his nightclub lives on. A visit is an unforgettable experience for anyone who remembers the inimitable K-Doe. His life was a remarkable up-and-down ride from the 1960s, when he recorded his number-one hit 'Mother in Law,' to the 1990s, when he pronounced himself 'Emperor of the World.' His widow, Anoinette, keeps the K-Doe spirit alive by designing and sewing flamboyant suits for the life-sized statue of her late husband that presides over the room.
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F&M Patio Bar
It's remote and not particularly impressive looking, but lots of locals take the trouble to work F&M into their Saturday night plans. It's an all-around fun spot with a very laid-back atmosphere. College kids and restaurant workers come for the lively back patio scene and good jukebox, and to shoot casual games of pool.
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Good Friends Bar
The crowd of regulars really are good friends, partly because the bar stools are so damn comfortable. Easy-on-the-eye bartenders make the bar's famous drink, the 'Separator' (Kahlúa ice cream, milk, brandy and coffee liqueur). The upstairs piano area, the 'Queen's Head Pub,' heats up with show tunes on Sunday night. The balcony is a good spot to chill.
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Half Moon
On an interesting corner, just half a block from Magazine St, the Half Moon beckons with a cool neighborhood vibe. The place is good for a beer or short order meal or an evening shooting stick.
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Harrah's Casino
The national casino chain arrived in New Orleans in 1999, and while one would think all manner of vice would be welcome in the Big Easy, Harrah's, near the foot of Canal St, was not popularly received. In spite of its best efforts to fit in, with a stately new brick home and a perfunctory Mardi Gras parade every night, Harrah's still manages to make its guests feel like they're in Sparks, Nevada - not -exactly what tourists usually have in mind when they come to New Orleans.
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Hookah Cafe
The hip Hookah is a swank-looking bar/supperclub with a gimmick, which is that patrons can smoke hookahs at their table. For the uninitiated, a hookah is a groovy Middle Eastern water pipe that looks like an extra-terrestrial musical instrument, or something pulled out of a goat. A full tobacco menu features shisha blends from far-off Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the UAE.
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Igor's Lounge
A good old joint, with a greasy grill, pool tables and washing machines. Igor's constant rotation of characters makes it a good place to drop in if you're making your way up or down St Charles Ave. Or make this your terminus if you're staying nearby.
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Jean Lafitte's Old Absinthe House
A number of bars in New Orleans, including this one, served absinthe before it was outlawed in 1914. Today, Herbsaint, a locally produced anisette, is a relatively safe stand-in for old absinthe-based drinks. The bar itself is an historic spot, having opened in 1807, but the crowd is generally of the bottom-shelf Bourbon St variety.
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Lafitte In Exile
A most venerable and popular gay bar in the quarter, Lafitte in Exile gets a vastly mixed and friendly crowd of all ages and sexes. The upstairs balcony is one of the best and as you'd expect the drink specials just keep coming.
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Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop
This idiosyncratic corner bar always has a steadfast crew of regulars propped up on its stools.
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Le Bon Temps Roulé
A neighborhood bar - a very good one at that - with a mostly college and post-college crowd drawn in by two pool tables and a commendable beer selection. Late at night, high-caliber blues, zydeco or jazz rocks the joint's little back room. The Hammond organist Joe Krown rattles the rafters with his Leslie speakers on Friday night.
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Le Chat Noir
At this smartly accoutred bar and cabaret, the beverage of choice is the martini and the entertainment ranges from Edith Piaf reincarnations to comic stage productions. CBD office workers prevail during 'happy hour' ( to ), and a well-heeled mature audience turns out for the evening shows.
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Loa
Loa is a great place to grab a daytime drink. Huge windows overlook the CBD's streetscape of dedicated worker bees, and watching them while getting drunk is a pleasure akin to munching on donuts amongst people sweating it out at the gym. In the evening, live music runs the gamut of world beats. And everyone looks good bathed in candlelight. If you practice voodoo, or just like the idea of a full-coverage plan, you can leave an offering at the voodoo altar on your way out.
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Mimi's in the Marigny
Neighborhood joint with pool and tapas .
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Molly's at the Market
A young, bohemian hipster crowd swills the Guinness and mingles out onto the sidewalk.
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Oz
Even Uptown debs have been seen shaking their tail feathers at this mixed dance club. The bump-and-grind area is surrounded by a cast-iron balcony and the bar is manned by buff, shirtless bartenders. In the wee hours, clothing becomes more of a concept than a reality.
