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Mardi Gras and the carnival season in New Orleans may be over, but two stars of that city's iconic cocktail scene are heading to Chicago to keep the good times rolling. For one night only, Chris Hannah and Neal Bodenheimer are taking over the bar at Hawksmoor Chicago.
On Tuesday, February 24 starting at 5pm, the city’s sleek steakhouse will host a special Tales on Tour pop-up at its Beef & Liberty Bar. The traveling series comes from Tales of the Cocktail, the premier New Orleans cocktail festival that helped define modern cocktail culture. This stop brings serious talent with it.
Behind the bar, you’ll find Neal Bodenheimer of Cure and Chris Hannah of Jewel of the South—two of the key figures behind New Orleans’ cocktail renaissance.
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Bodenheimer founded Cure in 2009, transforming an historic firehouse on Freret Street into one of the most influential cocktail bars in the country. The bar is widely credited with leading the city’s modern cocktail revival and has earned a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program. It’s also been named America’s Best Bar by Food & Wine and regularly lands on North America’s 50 Best Bars list.
Hannah, meanwhile, is a revered authority on classic New Orleans drinks. He spent 14 years running the legendary French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s before co-founding Jewel of the South in a restored 19th-century Creole cottage in the French Quarter. The bar has racked up its own major accolades, including a James Beard Award for Outstanding Bar Program, the 2024 Spirited Award for Best U.S. Bar Team and the Michter’s Art of Hospitality Award. Liquor.com has named it Best Restaurant Bar, and it continues to appear on national and international best-of lists.
If you can't make it to New Orleans, here's your chance to try historically grounded cocktails the kind of hospitality New Orleans is famous for.
The event is free to RSVP. Cocktails from Cure and Jewel of the South will be available for purchase and passed appetizers and bar bites from Hawksmoor will circulate throughout the evening. A guest DJ will keep the energy high, leaning into that easy, celebratory New Orleans vibe.