509 S. Carrollton Ave. New Orleans, LAhttp://www.cooterbrowns.co
Dress: casual to slovenly
Right where the St. Charles Street Car turns from St. Charles to S. Carrolton, Cooter Brown's is one of those places that stock 4000 beers (bottle & tap) and serves great greasy bar food. The best feature is the oyster shucker at the end of the bar. Oyster shuckers are damn-near celebrities in New Orleans. They usually have a minor performance schtick (for instance, a unique way to call out when an order is completed) and they have their own tip jars that are often better-stuffed than the bartender's. The inside decor of CB's is your standard pool-table, neon sign, sports television thing. The picnic tables outside are painted in LSU colors and sit unshaded in the sun. What you do is, you get a big, plastic cafeteria-style tray piled with freshly shucked oysters and a fancy bottle of beer (like Orval, or Whitstable Oyster Stout) and make a sloppy afternoon of it. At least until the sun gets high.
There is always art in New Orleans restaurants. CB's has caricature statues (bas reliefs?) of celebrities holding beer made by artist Scott Conary. It also has a bathroom that opens to the dining room with very little cover. If someone else comes in, you can stand at the urinal and look out at the people in the dining room (and they, you). Modesty is not a virtue in New Orleans.
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I so very much love that place. Normally bars with a great number of televisions annoy the hell out of me. However some combination of me being on vacation and properly alcoholed allows me to even enjoy a football game. Actually the last time we were in town there was an Ohio State game on and the place was filled with people in jerseys. This proves that everyone from Ohio leaves and mostly to NOLA.
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