By Melanie Ziems
There’s no hiding from the fact that New Orleans is an absolutely terrific place to get drunk. It seems that nowhere in the city are you more than 3 blocks from the nearest watering hole, and New Orleanians are true champions at taking advantage of that fact. With the glory of living in the Big Easy, though, comes the sometimes burdensome tourism industry, and a lot of bars make their money price-gouging the hell out of tourists, and in turn, the locals as well.
For example, you don’t have to be from out-of-town to enjoy a Hand Grenade at Tropical Aisle, but at $8 a pop, drinking like a vacationer can take a serious chunk out of a local’s wallet. It seems almost unfair how much some bars on Bourbon will charge for a well drink, and plenty of daiquiri joints are committing highway robbery for a weak frozen hurricane.
However, there’s still hope for local drinkers. It requires a little searching, but there are some places with terrific drink specials every day of the week, making drinking on a budget just a little bit easier.
Commander’s Palace
1403 Washington Avenue
25-cent martinis with a lunch entrée,
Monday-Friday, 11:30 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Commander’s Palace is infamous for being one of the best meals you can get in the city. Before Katrina, men were required to wear a coat in the dining room, but since the storm, the restaurant has loosened its own tie and has made the coat rule “optional” (though shorts are still a no-no). While it has the potential for an expensive night out, Commander’s makes itself accessible to the everyday drinker with their 25-cent martini specials. The rules are simple: order an entrée during the weekday lunch hours, and you can get up to four martinis for 25 cents each (and really, if you need more than four, this might not be the article for you). They have four martinis to choose from: a melon martini, a Commander’s Palace martini, a blue martini and a classic martini.
Cure
4905 Freret Street
$5 classic cocktails,
all week, 5 – 7 p.m.
Cure may be unassuming from the outside, but drinkers rejoice upon entrance: it is an astounding example of swag with its knowledgeable bartenders (or “mixologists”) and a menu of drinks that will make you first wary and then extremely satisfied (and probably drunk). Cure is the Mecca of mixology, but it usually comes at a price. Their cocktail menu runs from $9-$12 usually, but during a two-hour happy hour every day, all bets are off and their artistic concoctions are available to excite you and your taste buds for a mere $5.
