Loa
Locals and visitors alike have conspired to make Loa one of those special places that connect and reconnect them to what New Orleans is all about. Every year thousands of tiny rituals are conducted here to the tune of candlelight, rich textures and colors, and fine libations. In this setting, the cup is truly replete with "spirits" possessed of the power to sharpen the tongue and dull the sword.
Guests to Loa experience the seasons even if they don't happen to be looking out of the panoramic windows flanking two sides of the room. Enviable organic local citrus, herbs, and berries are presented as they appear across the Louisiana landscape. The menu features boutique wines and the most progressive cocktails in the city, whose recipes routinely require a dozen fresh-squeezed juices on hand, myriad homemade syrups and tinctures, and an array of original bitters--pecan, cucumber skin, bell pepper, chicory-plantain. Wild flora such as pine needles, bamboo, clover, and Spanish moss also find their way into the hand-picked vintage glasses.
In the Voodoo tradition, the "Loa" are benevolent deities. The name suits the bar because it is a place where the city's spirit can be identified. People meet here for a hundred different reasons and for many more than a few, their time here has been special.
