At new restaurant Hungry Eyes, drinks play a central role, from classic martinis to inventive cocktails to fresh wines. It’s an ’80s-themed spot from the Turkey and the Wolf Team, headed up by acclaimed chef Mason Hereford, and is the group’s first foray into dinner and drinks. They call the menu “drinking food,” built to compliment offerings like an espresso martini on tap, a pandan old-fashioned made with rum and bourbon, and an Ube Baby Baby made with coconut, pineapple, and rum. It doesn’t take reservations, so expect a bit of a wait, but it can be spent next door at Second Vine Wine. Sitting at the bar makes for a particularly enjoyable experience.

At this Freret Street restaurant showcasing seafood from the Atlantic Ocean, customers can try four — that’s right, four — types of Negronis: amber, white, yellow, and red, all excellent. Beyond those deliciously bitter-but-balanced concoctions, there’s a slew of cheekily-named, intricate drinks, like the Catwalk in the Club with bourbon, Gran Classico, and Cocchi Teatro or the Juice Box, made with gin, Boomsma, and St. Germaine, poured out a glass juice box. Bartenders can also whip up a delightful non-alcoholic spritz, perfect for sipping at the bar alongside caviar service or oysters on the half shell.

This is Mark Latter and company’s revamp of the short-lived Claret Wine Bar space, an extension of the existing Bower on Magazine Street. While it serves food from the Bower kitchen, the focus here is drinks — the 20-seat bar serves sophisticated cocktails like the Hydrix — bourbon, mint-infused contratto, amaro, and aquafaba. The swanky bar shares an outdoor space with both of its sister spots, the Bower and Birdy’s.

Downtown’s newest taco spot is sure to attract a similar crowd to its predecessor, Barcadia, thanks to its lively, splashy atmosphere, a strong happy hour, and its crowd-pleasing food and drinks menu. The bar is focused on colorful, vibrant agave drinks, with an extensive menu of margaritas, mojitos, palomas, and more. Try a Fig & Mischief for something a little different, with its notes of cinnamon, fig, and lemon to go with tequila and whiskey, a pineapple old fashioned, or a tropical twist on a Sazerac, made with tequila, mezcal, cognac, and cinnamon.

A new cocktail menu is enough to warrant a revisit, or a first-time visit, to Donald Link’s Four Seasons Hotel restaurant, just a little over a year old. Designed to complement a food menu drawn from Link’s travels tracing the roots and pathways of Creole cuisine through the Caribbean and Europe, the new drinks menu leans heavily on refreshing aperitifs, low-ABV cocktails, and European-style concoctions. Try a Parisian Cobbler made with Lillet, cassis, citrus, elderflower, and local strawberries, best enjoyed in the restaurant’s Purple Grackle lounge.

It’s not exactly a rooftop bar, because it’s just inside, but the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the river sure feel on top of the world. Observatory 11 at the Westin is more than a convention hotel bar, thanks to the swank setting and the live music that gives it a true New Orleans sense of place.

The Will and the Way is technically a revamp — the space was previously home to Longway Tavern before the restaurant group behind it, LeBlanc + Smith, decided to rethink the concept amid the pandemic. In addition to shifting the focus to wine and cocktails, the group has redone the inside to expand the centerpiece L-shaped bar, add texture and moody colors, and create additional “nooks and crannies,” for patrons to post up in. The beautiful courtyard remains a draw, and the new food and bar programs are backed by serious talent.

This brand-new bar takes over the space formerly home to legendary French Quarter dive bar Johnny White’s. Calling itself an “upscale dive,” the St. Peter Street space has a new look thanks to blue-tinged lights and dark wood, along with a few neon signs and funky murals, but still has a classic dive bar feel. For some added excitement, High Grace is having fun lighting drinks on fire and topping them with mini rubber duckies.

American Townhouse is the Quarter’s newest queer-owned bar and restaurant set in a renovated 1857 Greek Revival townhouse across from Armstrong Park. The bar is part of the Rampart Street Renaissance, home to a classic French Quarter courtyard and first-rate craft cocktails, not to mention strong bar food. Go for the Friday $5 martini happy hour and stay for the loaded waffle fries and kale Caesar.

The recently reopened Frenchmen Hotel has a new bar to offer a respite from Frenchmen Street chaos, a tropical, tiki-themed spot that extends to the hotel’s rooftop. Walk through a cool clock-lined carriageway to find a funky backyard bar and sample extravagant drinks like a Parakeet: rum, Velvet Falernum, Le Verger Liqueur, lime, tiki spice syrup, and egg white. There’s also a show-stopping volcano bowl, the Mount Pelee, a few frozen options, and a few intricate non-alcoholic cocktails.

Justini’s is the brainchild of Jessica Robinson, who is honoring Black women with both menu items and in this Bywater space itself — with a brown sugar old fashioned named after local civil rights movement leader Oretha Castle Haley, and a lavender French 75 named after the late Dooky Chase chef and civil rights activist Leah Chase. The chic new hotspot, which also serves food, is open Tuesday through Thursday from noon to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday until midnight; and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.; closed Mondays.