Taste of New Orleans: A cocktail pop-up at ZLB23 in Bengaluru

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. “I love bringing the Creole Cocktail on my travels because it is still an unknown New Orleans classic," says Chris Hannah, owner and bartender of the modern tavern Jewel of the South, from New Orleans USA, ranked #34 at the World’s 50 Best Bars 2024. “It is a rye whiskey-based, stirred libation, meant to be sipped like a Manhattan.

Most guests, and the bartenders I work with, have heard of the Sazerac or the Vieux Carré (both classic New Orleans cocktails that are also rye whiskey-based) but have not enjoyed a Creole Cocktail", he adds. Hannah will be doing a guest shift this evening at ZLB23, The Leela Palace Bengaluru as part of their ‘Best Bars at ZLB23’ initiative. 51-year-old Hannah has been bartending in the French Quarter of New Orleans for over 20 years, 14 of which he spent running the French 75 Bar, winning the James Beard Award for outstanding bar programme in 2017.

He co-founded Manolito, a Cuban bar in 2018. And in 2019, he opened Jewel of the South on St Louis Street, winning the same James Beard Award once again in 2024. In fact, Hollywood actor Pierce Brosnan, famous for several roles including four appearances as James Bond has enjoyed three Jewel Martinis (from the Diamonds in the Rough section of their menu) in one sitting here.

More recently, Jude Law too savoured a few of them. Jewel of the South is set in a quaint Creole cottage and pays homage to Joseph Santini, one of New Orleans's first famous bartenders. Santini owned and operated a tavern by the same name in 1855, which no longer exists.