Southern comfort
Compton. In t h e A r t s D i s t r i c t ’s intimidatingly hip The Old No.77 Hotel & Chandlery, Compton blends Southern flavours with European cooking and tastes from her native St Lucia. Matching the inventive menu, bartender Abigail Gullo helms the cocktail programme — try the Andromeda, with pisco, green chile vodka, grapefruit and rose.
Pre-dinner drinks pair best with sunset views. Rooftop newcomer Hot Tin (001 504 323 1453, hottinbar.com), in the Garden District’s freshly restored, 1920s Pontchartrain Hotel, gives the city’s best vant age over Downtown. The soundtrack, which swaps jazz for Eighties Brit classics, battles the clamour of the after-work rush, as drinkers sink into worn leather couches and sip on a small selection of house concoctions.
Afterwards, head down 11 floors to the newly reimagined Caribbean Room (001 504 323 1500, thecaribbeanroom. com). First opened in 1948, the restaurant was long a local favourite for birthdays, graduations and anniversaries but sadly shuttered in 1994. Enter TV chef and southern Louisiana native John Besh — following the $10 million refurbishment of the Pontchartrain hotel, Besh reopened the restaurant, intent on combining comforting nostalgia with an up-to-date menu. He succeeded. Palm-leaf print carpet, tropical-bird-dotted drapes and white rattan furniture evoke an old-school
Cultural agenda:
New Orleans’ industrial Warehouse District fell into disrepair as the city’s economy evolved but today finds itself revitalised and rebranded as the Arts District (artdistrictneworleans.com).
To see the preoccupations of contemporary artists head for the Arts District’s main artery, Julia Street, where no less than 15 galleries focusing on differing themes and disciplines are clustered. Expect feminist photography, abstract canvases and anything in between.
Details:
British Airways flies to New Orleans from Heathrow from £695 (0344 493 0787, ba.com)