Warming Up Over Seasonal Cocktails at Cure in New Orleans

It’s our first December living full time in New Orleans. Here’s what have learned so far: 1. December is filled with holiday festivities and 2. It can get pretty chilly. We started unpacking a few coats and our warm socks.

During a recent cold snap in New Orleans, we headed uptown to Cure, the city’s award-winning uptown cocktail bar. According to numerous published articles, Cure reinvigorated the craft cocktail movement in New Orleans and throughout the South back when it opened in 2009. Its cocktail menu is a collaborative effort between Cure’s founder, Neal Bodenheimer, and a team of bartenders who mix, test, taste and collaborate to create a rotating list of seasonal cocktails along with its mainstays and reserve offerings. The cocktails are sophisticated, creative and plentiful. It can be overwhelming to choose what to drink!

But we went to Cure with a focus and mission to sample both the seasonal cold weather cocktails and “holiday cocktails. It was our first visit, and we tried to enter through the wrong door. That meant everyone sitting at the bar got a free round of shots we were told by one patron who told us, “it happens all the time.”

Cure’s corner location at 4905 Freret Street in the uptown neighborhood was once a firehouse. The ceilings are high; the lighting is dim. The cocktails are brilliant, and the bar food and small plates are good and plentiful.  We sat at the bar to watch the bar action. There are some small tables and one large one in the corner. Here’s what we sipped.

Cold Weather Cocktails

Romance in Durango is a smoky, bittersweet tequila- based cocktail with caramelized pineapple and a hint of paprika ($18). This was our favorite of the “cold weather” sips we tasted.

The Left-Handed Compliment marries fresh fig and coconut with gin served straight up in a martini glass. ($19)

This Time Tomorrow is a whiskey sour laced with lemongrass, bruléed banana and chai spice. ($19)

Each bartender-creator’s name was listed under each cocktail. Frankly, we’re curious about the story behind the names of the cocktails. It would be fun to be a fly on the wall at a Cure Monday bar team workshop session

Holiday Cocktails.

The ones we tasted were desserts in a glass for us.

Delta Eggnog with Bourbon, chicory liqueur, cream, milk and whole egg. What we liked about this specific eggnog is that it was not cloyingly sweet for an eggnog. ($14)

Grasshopper Blanco was a frothy concoction of white tequila, Crème de Cacao, Crème de Menthe and more cream, ($16)

There are some non-dairy options on Cure’s holiday cocktail menu which we did not try. These include a Sorel Toddy with Sorel Hibiscus Liqueur, Rum, Demerera and Lime ($14) and a Holiday Boilermaker made with Aval Blanc Cider and a shot of House Spiced Rye. Of course, the one that caught our interest most was the Hannukah Cobbler made from Manischewitz, lemon peel, orange Peel and Angostura bitters ($13). We asked for the recipe (see end of article) because it’s a great way to use up that opened bottle of Manny-wine.

Soaking Up the Alcohol

Of course, we need food when we drink. The selection on the food menu is hearty enough to soak up the alcohol. We ordered three small plates. Our favorite was the escargot with Calabrian chili compound butter, Herbsaint with house-made focaccia. The succulent mushroom-truffle toast was pretty divine. On comparatively lighter note, we tried the creamy artichoke and Yukon gold potato brandade with roasted garlic and olive tapenade also served with focaccia.

Racking up the Accolades

Cure is a multi-award-winning craft cocktail bar, notably 2018 James Beard Foundation Outstanding Bar Program, North America’s 50 Best Bars of 2024 and 2023 and World’s 50 Best Bars in 2014. Address Cure, 4905 Freret Street  Information: www.curenola.com

Hanukkah Cobbler Recipe

3 oz Manischewitz Concord Grape

2 orange peels

1 lemon peel

1 bar spoon white granulated sugar

1 dash Angostura Bitters

Combine all ingredients and hard shake / strain into metal cup / crushed ice / garnish with eco straw and mint bouquet and top ice with more Angostura added on top.

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