Liuzza's By the Track

Cheers
By
Debbie Lindsey

Something was missing. Remember how your mom would be there for you with milk and cookies after a harrowing day at school? Well, Boyfriend and I had found the perfect new home and neighborhood and yet…we no longer had our bartender who would greet us after a long day at our shop (still trying to figure how to run a business). We needed a mom with a cold beer.
Let’s face it, bars are where you meet people, where social skills are honed on the politics of the day or just plain old gossip -- a place where wit and wisdom; camaraderie, simple banter and sometimes true friendships can be found. I had found all of that and then some at my favorite watering holes in the Quarter with one even becoming my home-away-from-home. My Living Room, as I referred to May Bailey’s, is now a source of guilt, the same as I would feel if I neglected a beloved family member. Since my move from the Quarter last Spring I have become the ‘long-time-no-see’ social derelict to my bar-mates.
If you hold your liqueur well, manage not to incite too many barroom brawls and tip beyond your means you might curry the respect of your bartender and if you’re very lucky, their friendship. I was so blessed. Once you have established a relationship with your barkeep you are then well on your way to becoming one of the gang – a regular.
There is a school of thought that bars and the abuse of drink must go hand in hand and that such behavior will lead to random and meaningless sex and therefore the breakdown of civilization. Well sure, anyone can carry a good thing a bit too far; but, your neighborhood pub is not to blame for those who would turn a sweet Miller High Life, the champagne of bottle beer, into a weapon of mass destruction.
We in New Orleans might carry the spirit of the cocktail a little too far but the comradry offered within a bar need not hinge upon a libation.
Last year when Boyfriend and I visited London and Paris we found an expresso station dispensing coffee and hot teas behind every bar. Sure a few might swill their beer till ruddy faced but passing the time with a cup of tea was quite the norm.
Point being: bars are an age old and time honored meeting ground for folks to pass a good time or simply unwind with others – a reprieve from the work place. And then there’s the convenience of having a place to gather with friends without having to play hostess in your own home. No fuss no muss. Just set a time to meet. Entertaining at home is an event, not something you want to take on every time you need to shoot the breeze with friends or celebrate someone’s birthday or promotion (and, there is no commitment to cleaning afterwards).
Before I turn this into a piece on tavern culture and an anthropological study on the social mores of a good swill allow me to re-enter the swinging doors of my saloons “where everybody knows my name”.
Through the years I have found friendships and good cheer from one corner of the Vieux Carre to the other. And I also found too much fun. I emerged from my partying days reasonably unscathed (pure luck) but done, done with the late nights and blurred memories. Recently a young tourist assuming that I, as a Quarterite and had the inside track on the nightlife, asked me where did I go for fun. I told him he’d rather not know. Intrigued, he persisted and I explained that I prefer minimal smoke, noise, people, and music so I can read a book or watch the evening news in peace – oh, and dog friendly for my four-legged drinking buddies. He changed the subject.
May Bailey’s (my Living Room), at the Dauphine Orleans Hotel, offered me the respite from the maddening crowds that someone like myself craves living in the Quarter. Even during Carnival a civilized cocktail served in appropriate glassware, not a cheesy go-cup, could be found. Tourists also seem to find this bar to be an oasis of sanity despite its close proximity to Bourbon Street.
When you miss your neighborhood bar more than your home, as I did while exiled during the city’s drainage in 2005, you realize that somewhere along the line your bartender has grown into your friend and you miss that friend. No longer are they the surrogate moms forced to uplift you with drink and an ear – you have come to know them and when they need a friendly face.
So, yeah I’ve been missing Jeffery and Lisa and the hotel staff; not to mention J from Molly’s; watching Jeopardy with Scott at Fahy’s on Tuesdays; and we all miss Claire and her wonderful bar, which closed in 2008. But with change we sometimes must move on. Boyfriend and I still see our buddies, but not often enough. No longer do we stroll home past our swell swilling joints, now we are rushing to catch the bus or if we bring our dogs to work, which involves hitching up the car, we don’t drink and drive.
At first it was kinda nice to just be in our new home and sip our cold drinks on the porch but we missed the treat, the outing, the ritual of going someplace for a smart cocktail. We just plain missed being where everybody knows your name, and they’re always glad you came. And then came Liuzza’s By The Track.
You just can’t go out and replace friends, your mom, your first love, that childhood dog so loyal he’d pine for you at the gate ‘til you returned home from school…but you can damn sure try. When we discovered Liuzza’s was more than a yummy joint for lunch; we were white on rice with those barstools. And the first time Sinbad, the barkeep, smiled and with great flourish, opened us up a pair of PBRs we knew we were home.
I am still homesick for my Quarter haunts and peeps. But Liuzza’s has truly become our “Cheers” and I wish to thank Theresa/Kelly/Lisa/Sinbad/Ashley/Susie Q/Devin/ Tom/Jimmy/the amazing kitchen crew/and all the regulars who have made us feel like a part of the Faubourg St. John. Whew…that’s a lot of new folks to keep track of – gimme another beer. I’m home again. Thank you.
Comments welcome: Debbie@whereyat.com