SCENE By Todd A. Price
Bellocq Blows into New Orleans A
A bar conjures up another era.
hide. Low tables and vintage rugs fi ll the dark, old-fashioned lounge. Once a month there are performances by world music acts, which are booked by Lou Reed's former manager. For many guests, however, the most striking feature of Bellocq is the menu. Almost every drink listed is a Cobbler:
t Bellocq in New Orleans, the walls are blood red and metal curtains hide alcoves where couples can
a simple combination of aperitif wine or a liqueur with sugar, fresh fruit and crushed ice. Th ey arrive in frosty metal Julep cups garnished with berries and sporting wheat stalk straws. Back in the 19th
Sherry Cobbler, was all the rage. Th e 70-seat Bellocq debuted last
century this drink, especially the
December in the recently renovated Hotel Modern. Th e hotel's new owner, Klaus Ortlieb, previously opened such high-profi le properties as the Mercer in New York and the Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. For the bar at his new hotel, he turned to Kirk Estopinal and Neal Bodenheimer of Cure, a three- year-old New Orleans cocktail lounge that was recently named a semifi nalist for the 2012 James Beard award for Outstanding Bar Program. Ortlieb asked the pair to create a bar that evokes the city's infamous Storyville district, a pre-Prohibition zone of legalized prostitution famously documented by the photographer E.J. Bellocq.
AN UNUSUAL COCKTAIL LIST Estopinal created the recipes for
The Champagne Cobbler is a popular drink. 18 | JULY/AUGUST 2012
Bellocq's more than 60 Cobblers—priced from $8 to $30—which use base spirits like Sherry, fruit and digestif liqueurs, vermouth and other aromatized wines. Estopinal found some historical recipes for Cobblers made with Sherry and dessert wines. In other cases, he let his palate guide him, adding fruit and
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