The Sazerac Bar in the Roosevelt Hotel is one of New Orleans's most beautiful bars and one of the few places in the city where the interior decoration is as interesting as the drink. The room was designed in 1938 with murals by Paul Ninas depicting Louisiana scenes, and the Art Deco fittings and dark wood panelling have been carefully preserved. It was also, famously, the bar where Louisiana governor Huey Long held court during his reign in the 1930s, conducting the business of state from a corner table.
The bar serves the full range of New Orleans cocktails — the Sazerac obviously, but also the Ramos Gin Fizz (invented in the city in 1888), the Vieux Carré, and a serious selection of bourbons and ryes. Worth visiting for the room as much as the drinks. The Roosevelt Hotel itself, a grande dame of New Orleans hospitality built in 1893, is worth a stroll through the marble lobby regardless.