New Orleans' Cure Is Still the No. 1 Bar in the U.S.

"Opened in 2009 on Freret Street after founders Neal Bodenheimer and Matthew Kohnke converted a turn-of-the-century firehouse in the post‑Katrina rebuild, this bar helped introduce modern craft cocktail culture to New Orleans beyond the French Quarter. The spacious, upscale interior—original brick walls and arched windows that flood the room with natural light at happy hour, and candlelit tables after dark—centers on a long, front-row bar where a rotating roster of notable bartenders has developed both classics and originals. The program, which won a 2018 James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program, balances top-tier takes on standards (the house Sazerac made with Herbsaint, Sazerac rye, Demerara syrup and precisely 23 drops of Peychaud’s as a nod to Michael Jordan) with modern signatures such as the Gunshop Fizz (by Maks Pazuniak and Kirk Estopinal) — a rosy Pimm’s Cup–style highball featuring Sanbittèr, generous Peychaud’s, and garnishes of strawberry, cucumber, and citrus. Menus evolve with trends—Manhattan variations and amari-forward bitters from the early days (also captured in Rogue Cocktails), seasonal offerings like the beet-forward Champagne “Girl Dinner,” and a growing zero-proof section—while each cocktail is credited to its creator, reflecting the bar’s mission to be both steward and innovator of New Orleans’s cocktail legacy." - Kara Newman