'Ninth Ward' in NYC

City Life & Neighborhood, Outside Nola, Review & Critique, Travel

June 21st, 2010

So, a new cocktail lounge has opened up in NYC.

I mean, if they were serving up heineken and bounce music was playing, I’d probably have some respect. But a swanky over-priced New York cocktail bar? Come on. New York has many redeeming qualities but this is not one of them…

Think of Ninth Ward as your new house of the rising sun: a slice of the Big Easy from a time long past, complete with dusty relics, voodoo dolls, Sazeracs, iron padlocks protecting old absinthe, crawfish, reclaimed bayou dock wood and two hitching posts outside (in case you’re planning to head out on a horse this weekend).

And let us say this: Ninth Ward is dark as night: the only light leaks in from flickering candles and dim bulbs housed behind old hurricane shutters. Which means it’s the perfect place to come in out of the blazing summer sun, order up a cold one and seclude yourself in one of the curtained banquettes to consult your favorite witch doctress in private.

Or step out into the ivy-ringed backyard garden—a fountain-rich space with wrought iron fleurs-de-lis, and a back-lit statue of a shrouded woman who will beckon you to return, night after night—for a crawfish boil and some fried catfish.

Read more: if that’s your thing

Do they even know anything about the Ninth Ward? When is the last time you went to the Ninth Ward to drink Absinthe? And what is a witch doctress?