See Nola

Capdeville

520 Capdeville St. (Central Business District) 504.371.5161. Monday through Thursday: 11am to 2pm; 5pm to 11pm. Friday: 11am to 1am. Saturday: 10am to 2pm; 6pm to 1am. "Gastropubs" are all over the coasts. We think New Orleans has two, now. Uptown we have the Delachaise, and downtown we have the just-opened Capdeville. The theme is British Pub -- black bead board walls, a bar crest and retro light fixtures. Especially attractive is the bar, topped with a slab of cool white marble. Nine dollar specialty cocktails take care of the Oakley-sunglasses-perched-in-gelled-hair-with-ironed-polo-shirt set. This is, after all, a bar for the fratty/professional crowd -- a crowd that lives and works in the surrounding Central Business District. A real jukebox filled with gems competes with loud, late-night conversation. Everything in this bar has a plan and that plan is well executed down to the delicious comfort food. We go for the burger topped with blue cheese and crisp red onions ("Black and Bleu Burger"). The ceviche appetizer with tortilla chips was fresh, delicious. Of course, the best bars are where the words "theme" and "business plan" are terminally hemmed in by quotes. But you can't have everything. Brunch Saturday morning. No video poker.

The Sazerac Bar at the Roosevelt Hotel

123 Baronne St. (Central Business District) 504.548.1200. Seven Days: 11am to 2am. The Sazerac Bar is in the old Fairmont Hotel, which was the old Roosevelt hotel, which was the old Grunewald Hotel in 1893. The giant full-block building has been boarded up since the storm, but now, after many millions and months, the hotel is back as The Roosevelt, owned by Hilton and marketed under top luxury imprint, Waldorf Astoria Collection. The legendary Sazerac Bar is smack dab in the heart of the hotel, so embedded in the stone and marble center your cell phone is likely to lose coverage. It was indeed pleasing to have "no service" pop up on our cell phone as soon as we stepped through the bar's art deco doorway. The bar itself is all 1930s streamlined with wood panel walls, rounded corners, big booths, recessed lighting and frosted glass. Surprisingly, it's actually not very enchanting proportional-wise -- long and tall it feels, to us, like an uninviting train car. After our first ten dollar Sazerac, which tasted like a Jolly Rancher (too much sugar), we were hit with a dose of melancholia. With its modernist detailing and official, fine-dining service, the bar felt more southern than New Orleans. Like we were in Jackson or Norfolk not extroverted and irrational New Orleans. Like the bar was a good place to discuss an oil lease. Nothing wrong with that. But after a couple drinks we waved farewell and slipped back to the French Quarter cottages on the other side of Canal Street. Historic murals. Mosaic floor. Clunky "luxury" bar stools.

Hobnobber's Variety Bar & Restaurant

139 Carondelet St. (Central Business District) 504.525.5428. Breakfast and Lunch: Monday through Friday, 7am to 2pm; Drinks: Monday through Friday, 7am to 'till. Hobnobber's long front-bar features stale smoke, dim lighting, a propane tank inside an antique phone booth. Past all that, in a brightly lit, windowless back room is Hobnobber's food operation -- a setup so divorced from the rest of the bar that finding it for the first time is like finding a secret chamber inside a pyramid. "I don't even know what building we're in," observed a friend as we sat down to a delicious lunch of smothered cabbage, fried pork, catfish, fries and extra wet potato salad.  Hotel and office workers mixed at the counter, carrying large bags of takeout. Delivery. Pool table. Video poker.

Le Phare

523 Gravier St. (Central Business District). 504.636.1891. Credit Cards. Le Phare, the bar inside fauxhemian hotel Loft 523, doesn't have a sign so that means you're really cool if you know where to find the entrance. Whatever. If you packed your multi-colored-striped-designer-button-down-shirt and over-priced-designer-jeans and need a "contemporary" place to dance to a DJ and drink expensive drinks and show off your synthetic tan, this is the place to go. Upside: a place like this in New York (Meatpacking District) would charge $15 or $20 a drink but at Le Phare ("the light") drinks go around $8, which is reasonable in the context of this kind of cheesiness.

Handsome Willy's

218 South Robertson (Central Business District) 504.525.0377. Credit Cards.  Monday: 11am to 8pm; Tuesday 11am to Midnight; Wednesday to Friday: 11am to 'till; Saturday 1pm to 'till; Sunday 4pm  to 'till. Handsome Willy's one floor building stands among vacant lots and New Orleans' half-abandoned medical district, which gives this bar a gentle apocalyptic vibe. The drinks are strong and the happy hour specials (active Monday to Friday, Noon to 7pm) are generous. There's a large, comfortable patio in back with outdoor seating. Indoors, the long bar, low sloping ceiling, small velvet painting, candles and deep red walls provide a soulful atmosphere for the post-hipsters, slumming professionals and service workers that frequent Willy's. Great music selection. Food we haven't tried. Video Poker.

Harrah's Casino

8 Canal St. (Central Business District) The city's only land-based casino, Harrah's is loud & hellish Las Vegas style. The theme is, you guessed it, New Orleans! Visit the fake French Quarter! Visit the fake Garden District! Eat over-priced food in a fake Pirate's Cove! Every day there's a phony brass band parade! Jeez, who wants to spend all that energy touring the real New Orleans when you can have the whole damn thing recreated for you in one square block? And free drinks to boot. (Remember that the cocktail waitresses have to pay, out of their own pocket, the tax for each drink served whether you tip or not.) Harrah's made many concessions in pursuit of their land-based monopoly (like minimum tax payments and a promise not to compete with the city's restaurant and hotel industry) but through a complicated process known as "Louisiana politics" Harrah's has since managed to lower their tax liability, launch a steak house & open an incredibly gaudy hotel. The newest expansion project is a fake street (or "pedestrian mall") adjacent to the Harrah's Hotel complete with pipped-in music, corporate restaurants and statues of happy jazz musicians with indistinct features. Enter this Disney version of Bourbon Street at 228 Poydras.

Trains & Buses

Union Passenger Terminal. 1001 Loyola Ave. (Central Business District)  As much as passenger rail has a hub in the south, New Orleans is it. A whole three Amtrak trains run through town: The City of New Orleans (New Orleans to Chicago), The Crescent (New Orleans to New York), and The Sunset Limited (Los Angeles to Orlando). The trains are wildly off-schedule with on-board bathrooms that stink and food that comes from some dark and processed place. But what about the inescapable romantic curiosity of train travel? More information at Amtrak.com. Greyhound (Bus) Lines shares the Union Passenger Terminal with Amtrak. And if you're willing to transfer 7 or 8 times, a Greyhound bus will uncomfortably take you anywhere you want to go. The Union Passenger Terminal itself is somewhat interesting with its 1950s streamlined architecture and a fascinating fresco by Conrad Albrizio that runs the length of the building.