Okay. So I think I know what I want to do.
Every year the
Gambit, our local weekly independent newspaper, compiles its list of the top 50 bars in New Orleans. The list is pretty similar from year to year, with a few changes thrown in for variety or because some place went down in flames (literally or figuratively). One afternoon the first summer we lived here we were hanging at a local neighborhood place, the Kingpin, which always makes the list. Suddenly, about 12 people piled through the door, all ordered Abitas, drank and marveled at the place, then had the bartender take a group photo. They were hitting all 50 bars on the list from that year at the courageous pace of 5 per day. That always stuck in my mind as a great kind of "scavenger hunt," but it seemed unfeasible for me at the time. Now, more than three years later with a slightly bigger budget, a wider social net, and a more confident grasp on the local geography and lexicon, I feel like I could do this.
Not five a day, mind you. That's just suicide. And you can't ever really get a feel for a place after just one drink. So I'm thinking of hitting the top 50 bars on this year's list with the casual goal of visiting them all before next year's list comes out. Of course I've been to almost half of the ones on the list, but some were only brief visits. It will be good to see them again through new eyes.
But this won't just be a drinking escapade...I'll also attempt to write a review/travelogue ("tavernlogue"?) about each bar to post on GS and, possibly a standalone blog. Peopled with some real characters (whoever wants to tag along) and some fictional ones as needed.
I've been mulling this over for a few days, trying to decide if I want to set some guidelines...i.e., should I say I need to spend at least X amount of time at each bar, if I should always order the house special if there is one? Attempt to get a history of the place from a bartender or a regular or just let things present themselves to me? If you guys have any "Rules of the Road" suggestions, I'd be interested to hear them.
For archiving purposes, here's the link to the list, which includes the brief write-ups by the Gambit staff:
http://bestofneworleans.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A77324Spoiled for choice, as it were.
So now that I've written all this I suddenly realize that it is similar to Nacho's Lush Tour. Maybe we should have a multi-city bar project race! I bet if we did nothing but bar reviews, stories, and histories for a year GS would become one of the most popular sites ever.
