From Mardi Gras to second lines, New Orleans knows how to let the good times roll. The French Quarter remains one of the city’s most historically rich and charming neighborhoods, but Bourbon Street — with its wall-to-wall T-shirt shops and neon-colored slushies — has a reputation for being a tourist mecca void of personality. But just off the infamous strip, no-frills dive bar Erin Rose has been slinging the city’s best frozen Irish Coffees for 25 years. It’s become a favorite of locals and pro bartenders alike.
“The word ‘dive’ is thrown around almost as quickly, easily and incorrectly as ‘speakeasy’ these days,” says Nick Farrell, spirits director for Neighborhood Restaurant Group, which includes Junebug. “I love Erin Rose because it’s curated with people who make a dive bar so special. It’s rare to find a place where tourists can intermingle with locals so easily.”
Regularly filled with New Orleanians, service folks and the few lucky tourists who wander in off the street, no other bar boasts the descriptor “dive” with so much pomp, circumstance and adoration. We asked both local bartenders and some of the world’s most awarded people behind the stick why it remains one of their favorite places to mix, mingle, gather and throw one back.
“I would say people in the service industry,” says Chris Hannah, partner and beverage director of Jewel of the South, when asked who visits Erin Rose the most. “Professional day drinkers are a close second.”
Erin Rose’s motto is “local prices, local chaos, local love.” And despite the pretty strict bouncer out front, it’s hard to find a more genuine place. The thing that makes it special is “its authenticity,” says Elvis Rosario, manager of operations for SRV Hospitality, which owns Chica & The Don and Seriēn. “I mean, that Irish Coffee is bananas, too. But it’s just genuine and fun. When a space like that hits a vein, it becomes part of the culture and structure of a city.”
“The bar continues to be a true third space for both industry and outsiders alike, which is perhaps its most compelling attribute,” says Mary Allison Wright, co-owner of Yacht Club and Rougarou in Denver. “But the perfect frozen Irish Coffee to punctuate that humidity certainly doesn’t hurt.”
The building has been a drinking establishment since the mid-1900s when it was converted from a single-family home. Jim Monaghan mixed up the first Irish Coffee recipe for Erin Rose and his other popular hangout, Molly’s at the Market. Although the recipe is a well-guarded secret, it’s known to contain local milk, local coffee, coffee liqueur and brandy. It’s served in a collectible black plastic cup with the Erin Rose logo emblazoned on the front that most people proudly take home. Those in the know add a Fernet floater to the top. Even if you don’t partake in the frozen delight, the shockingly well-priced beer and shot special and tasty Killer PoBoys shop in the back are reason enough to stop in.
The current management took over in 2001 and has maintained the character of the place. The walls are covered in stickers, highway signs and a few fluorescent light fixtures with two TVs playing whatever happens to be on at the time. It makes it even better that the bar is open 21 hours a day and happy hour is from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. “It has never tried to be anything other than itself,” says Erina Yoshida, owner of Angel’s Share in NYC. “There’s something really meaningful about a place that maintains its character, welcomes generations of regulars and brings together people from all corners of the hospitality industry.”
“What I enjoy most about Erin Rose is the energy,” says Roberto Berdecia, co-founder of La Factoría, Puerto Rico Cocktail Week, Cui Cui and Licorería Miramar. “It’s the kind of place where you’re always going to run into someone, meet someone or end up having a conversation you weren’t expecting. That’s very New Orleans to me.”
In the end, the bartenders and clientele are the most important part of a bar, and it takes a special hand to balance it all. “It’s hard for any bar to practice unconditional acceptance, and Erin Rose excels here,” Hannah says. “It’s a beautiful little rectangle where you’ll quickly realize you’re not just a customer, you’re family.”
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