NOLA bar pops up at Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel for carnival season
'The whole thesis behind this was, how do we take the long and storied history of New Orleans and run it through the bounty of California?' said CureCo managing partner Neal Bodenheimer. 'It became really fun for me to think about all the things we have in common and all the things we don't have in common.'
Cure opened in NOLA's Freret Street corridor in the wake of the flooding after Hurricane Katrina and is credited with pioneering the craft cocktail movement in Crescent City and beyond. Bodenheimer collaborated with CureCo beverage director Matt Young and lead bartender Liz Kelley to create Cure in 2009, and the bar went on to earn a James Beard Award as well as recognition as one of North America's 50 Best Bars.
Besides creating Cure, Bodenheimer is also co-chair of the board of directors for the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation and author of 'Cure: New Orleans Drinks and How to Mix 'Em.' On Feb. 12, the pop-up kicked off with a King Cake Party, with Bodenheimer himself behind the bar, mixing drinks for guests.
'We are here because we love to represent New Orleans cocktails and culture and it has been really fun to do it in California, especially in Orange County specifically,' said Bodenheimer.
A menu of Cure cocktails offers descriptions of the drinks as well as a short history of their origins. Each one is inspired by New Orleans but reimagined using California ingredients to really make them shine.
'While so many companies are global, drinking and eating really is local,' said Bodenheimer. 'You are only as good as the bounty of your area, and who has better bounty than California?'
The roffignac, for instance, is named for Count Louis Phillipe Joseph de Roffignac, a mayor of New Orleans in the 1820s. Popularized on Royal Street, the highball cocktail gets a SoCal twist in the form of blanco tequila, mezcal and house-made carrot and blood orange shrub. The Hurricane cocktail is another drink that gets credited to the Big Easy. Said to have been created at Pat O'Briens in the 1940s, the rum drink has become a tropical favorite worldwide.
'Pat O'Brien is the creator of the Hurricane, and you can still get a Hurricane there today,' Bodenheimer said. 'He was a speakeasy owner in New Orleans, which was considered the wettest city in American during prohibition.'
Bodenheimer said the key element to a good Hurricane is fassionola, the fruit syrup used in the mixed drink. Pomegranate, guava and passion fruit are in season in California now, and Bodenheimer used those tropical fruits to make Cure's house-made fassionola.
Other drinks on the menu are lesser known classic cocktails that Cure has made popular by reworking them to fit today's palette.
'The Old Hickory, it is a cocktail from the 1930s, and that cocktail was not a popular New Orleans at all, but it is a cocktail that we thought drank like a very modern aperitivo cocktail,' said Bodenheimer. 'So we dusted it off and had a great time messing around with it.'
In honor of the pop-up, the resort's chef de cuisine, Irving Nunez , has added Louisiana staples like po' boys and étouffée to the menu. In the bar, savory bites like cacio e pepe deviled eggs, spiced with black pepper and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese, are served along with crawfish croquettes in remoulade and traditional sweets like beignets.
As a special treat, King Cake from pastry chef Abigail Naguit will be served too. Traditionally, the cake is served 12 days after Christmas with a porcelain figure of a baby baked inside meant to represent Jesus and said to bring good luck to the person who gets the baby in their slice. Naguit's take on the classic cake includes whipped cinnamon ganache with butter pecan ice cream, while other custom flavors, like Meyer lemon curd accompanied by a gin glaze, candied celery and lemons, will also be available, designed to pair with Bodenheimer's cocktails.
On weekends a live Jazz band will play in the lounge, completing the New Orleans experience. For dining reservations visit ritzcarlton.com.
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