NAPOLEON HOUSE
One of New Orleans Best Examples of FRENCH COLONIAL Architecture
The first time I set foot in the Napoleon House in New Orleans, was way back in the Summer of 1995. I flew down to Houston Texas, to visit my brother Michael. After a couple days in Texas, it was off to New Orleans. We arrived in New Orleans and Michael had booked us into the Marriot on Canal Street in the French Quarter. We didn't know all that much about the town back then, and so we were winging it. We heard about a few places like Mother's, Commander's Palace, Antoine's and Galatoire's. I can't remember if I had read about Cage du Monde, Tujague;s, or the Napoleon House before we went to or saw these places on that first trip. Yeah, I don't think I had heard of Napoleon House before, but when we walked by, it looked like a cool place to me, and so we went in. We sat down, ordered some Gumbo and had a couple of drinks. As we sat there in Napoleon's I took it all in, looking around the room and getting a feel for this wonderful New Orleans Institution that had been built for the Emperor Napoleon by the Mayor of New Orleans, to come and live in, in exile. The building was built in 1894 and was enlarged in 1814. Mayor Girod wanted Napoleon Bonaparte to come and live there in exile, but Napoleon died in 1821 and never made it to the Crescent City.
The building was Girod's home until his death in 1840. The building housed an Italian Grocery store for years until it was turned into a restaurant in 1914, and remains o this very day. The now famous "Pimm's Cup" cocktail (The House Drink) was first served in the early 1940's.
Now back to me and The Napoleon House. Well first off, I fell in Love with the place at first sight. You don't come by to many places like this, especially in America. The place is filled with its own special charm and tons of history. I've loved every little thing about the place, since that very first trip. I went to the bathroom, and to do so, you have to go into a little courtyard and then to the bathroom. And when I did so, I just loved the little courtyard. Their was a couple sitting there at a table, drinking cocktails and eating Jambalaya. The courtyard had all the usual plants that you see in New Orleans courtyards and such, like Ferns and Banana Trees, Magnolias, and what-not.
We had a wonderful time that first time. We had Gumbo and Muffaltetta Sandwiches which we enjoyed. I didn't know that Napoleon's was famous for their Pimm's Cup cocktail, but I'd find that out at a later date. Of course, I have had a number of them their. And now I always drink Pimm's Cups in Napoleon House, and though the Sazerac is the official cocktail of New Orleans, I'm not that crazy about them, and prefer to drink Bourbon Old Fashioned Cocktails when in New Orleans, and I'm not at Napoleon House, but having one or two at Antoine's, Galatoire's, or Arnaud's.
A few years after that first trip to Napoleon's, I'd see the place in Oliver Stone's film JFK, when Kevin Costner, playing New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison. I don't know how accurate this portrayal is, but in the movie, Kevin Costner (DA Garrison) and his associates go into Napoleon House to watch the TV New reports after they heard that President Kennedy was shot in Dallas, Texas. The scene is well done, and I believe it to be true.
Anyway, as you know by now, I Love the Napoleon House, and I go there every time I'm in New Orleans. And I've been around the World 3 times over, and I count the Napoleon House of New Orleans as one of my favorite bars in the World, and it gets my vote as one of the World's Best (Bars).
Basta !
Daniel Bellino Zwicke
The Bar
NAPOLEON HOUSE
NEW ORLEANS
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