The books behind the bar at Galatoire’s Bistro may be old, but they aren’t collecting dust.
Behind its faded cover, a 1930s book holds Prohibition-era drink recipes. It sits next to a 2014 recipe book that treats bartending more like a science experiment.
While each book is unique, they all have one thing in common: The crinkly pages are tattered and torn, some yellowed and dotted with stains from drink spills.
These books don’t sit pretty on a shelf—they’re used over and over again by the Galatoire’s bar team.
To change up the signature drink menu each season, the bartenders find just as much inspiration in inventive craft cocktails as they do in classic recipes.
“We honor our heritage and the 111 years behind our name,” says general manager Blake Hernandez. “But we’re expanding out and doing new things to forge our own identity. Everybody loves the tradition of Galatoire’s in New Orleans, but we have the freedom to be a little more flexible. A little more laidback.”
The specialty cocktail menu is a tribute to Baton Rouge, with drink names like “Garden District,” “Born on the Bayou” and “Southdowns Swizzle.”
Pairing dinners are a strong focus, along with an emphasis on Louisiana spirits, including Thibodaux-based Donner-Peltier Distillers products and Baton Rouge’s Magnolia Vodka.
“It’s never blind loyalty with Louisiana products. There’s just so many things in Louisiana that are blowing me away right now,” Hernandez says.
Hernandez helped build the restaurant’s book collection as a resource for growing bartenders.
Here is a guy who can nerd out over cocktails: He can talk at length about famous speakeasies, the type of water to use for ice and even about a longstanding legal battle over the Long Island iced tea name.
“I always like to learn, whether it’s techniques, spirits or recipes,” he says. “I always tell people I know enough to know I don’t know anything.”
Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails by Ted Haigh
“Every drink in the book predates Prohibition. There are weird ingredients in here, but they’ll also tell you how to make a substitute.”
Shaking Up Prohibition in New Orleans by Olive Leonhardt and Hilda Phelps Hammond
LSU Press’s 2015 reprint gives a fresh perspective to this collection of recipes and satirical poems originally published during Prohibition. Hernandez uses the book as a conversation piece. “It ties in with embracing the Galatoire’s history,” he says.
The PDT Cocktail Book by Jim Meehan
Guests must walk through a hot dog joint to get into PDT, a famous Manhattan speakeasy. “This one has got a really good mix of classic and contemporary,” Hernandez says as he flips through the bar’s cocktail book. “That’s relatively unique to cocktail books—a lot will be defined by era or by spirit. … Every single recipe in this book is credited to a specific bartender, which is something that can fall by the wayside in this industry.”
The Craft of the Cocktail by Dale DeGroff
“It’s got a really good base menu of those really typical cocktails—gin rickeys, Bloody Marys. There’s info on techniques, tools, intro to glassware, garnish techniques.”
The Gentleman’s Companion by Charles Henry Baker
With a 1946 copyright note in the front, this book highlights exotic drinks found around the world in the ’20s and ’30s. “The book had a lot of crazy, out-there stuff,” he says, referencing a recipe containing a few dashes of arsenic and another with castor oil. “There are some things that are easily attainable, but other things I wouldn’t attempt in my wildest dreams. … It’s so bananas, but at the same time you can get inspiration.”
Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold
“Dave Arnold’s book is not as heavy on recipes as it is on technique, and I find that infinitely fascinating,” he says. “It breaks down using different strainers, which can 100 percent change the taste of your cocktail.” galatoiresbistro.com
