The Sazerac House is hosting a special single barrel tasting and shopping experience for Father's Day. If you’re not familiar, single barrel bourbon comes from just one specially selected barrel—never blended—making each bottle completely unique. These barrels are chosen for their distinct character, much like the fathers and father figures we honor: one-of-a-kind, full of depth, and worth celebrating.

Inspired by the legacy a father leaves behind, the “Leave Your Trace” Father’s Day Event celebrates the memories made sharing bourbon with fathers and father figures. The event features multiple tastings of single barrel bourbon. Additionally, guests will have the opportunity to purchase a commemorative Father's Day bottle of Single Barrel Buffalo Trace Bourbon from a barrel hand-picked by famed Buffalo Trace Distillery Tour Guide Freddie Johnson.

The “Leave Your Trace” Father’s Day Event runs Thursday, June 12 - Sunday, June 15. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (May 28) at 8 am CST. Tickets are offered in two tiers:
- Tier 1: tickets are $70 a person and include the tasting experience + the Single Barrel Buffalo Trace Bourbon bottle
- Tier 2: tickets are $45 a person and include just the tasting experience

Click here for more details

This June, Compère Lapin – the restaurant by James Beard Award–winning chef Nina Compton, located inside The Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery in New Orleans' Warehouse District, will mark its 10-year anniversary. Since opening its doors in 2015, the restaurant has earned a local following and national recognition for its fearless fusion of Caribbean flavors, French & Italian techniques, and Southern soul. To honor this milestone, Compère Lapin will offer a special “Greatest Hits” prix-fixe menu from June 3-30, 2025. Highlighting fan-favorite dishes from the past decade, the four-course menu will be priced at $70 per person (plus tax and gratuity) and reflects the restaurant’s evolution and impact through a curated selection of iconic dishes. (Choice of One Dish Per Course)

First Course
– Conch Croquettes / Pickled Pineapple Tartar Sauce
– Jerk Corn / Chicken Skin Breadcrumbs
Second Course
– Marinated Shrimp / Jalapeño Jus
– Local Market Salad / Coconut Dressing
Third Course
– Snapper / Jamaican Pepperpot 
– Duo of Beef / Cassava Purée & Calaloo
Fourth Course
– Soursop Semifreddo
– Banana and Nutella Zeppole

“This menu is a love letter to our guests, our team, and the journey we've taken over the last ten years,” says Compton, who co-owns the restaurant with her husband and partner Larry Miller. “These dishes tell our story — they’re bold, joyful, and meld my St. Lucian roots with my love for New Orleans.”
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The 10-year anniversary prix-fixe is available June 3rd - 30th, 5:30PM - 9PM Sunday through Thursday; 5:30PM - 10PM, Friday and Saturday. Reservations are strongly encouraged and can be made at http://comperelapin.com/ or on OpenTable.

​Run, Rabbit: First night review, Bunny Hill Motel @ The New Marigny Theatre
Review by Dorian Hatchett

The auditorium is dark. In an antique church sanctuary with a cluster of seating at one end, the audience shouldn’t be conscious of the great room around them. In this dark, though,  the expanse of space around the audience presses in close. Filled with live piano music, the dark is a little unsettling-alive, liquid. The curtains draw back and the audience collectively breathes a sigh of relief. There is momentum, a beginning. The relief was premature though, as the following ninety minutes of will-they-or-won’t-they tension doesn’t allow for anything resembling comfort.  

Bunny Hill Motel is an original one act play written, directed and produced by Alex Anthony Vazquez. Blue Theatre Company is labeling it 'neo-noir' and the undercurrent themes of crime, punishment, and the consequences of dubious morality are certainly fitting that label.

The curtain draws down on a single room in a cheap motel. A fraught Caleb Elias plays John.  He’s a criminal, but we don’t know what kind. The things we are aware of are that he’s got a gun, a bag of cash, and if he doesn’t slow down and breathe, the apprehension is gonna give us all a heart attack. 

Enter Daisy (played by Abigail Duhon) who is a regular call girl with a specific set of skills, and everything goes from stressed to complicated faster than you can say your safe word. John is a man with big dreams but no real ambition. He is everyone’s cousin who is so intent on finding a get rich quick scheme that he doesn’t realize that it’s less work to just get a job.

The actors all do an excellent job, even as they're portraying hard-to-love antagonists - and in my eyes, a well-written villain is worth ten heroes. Elias skilfully presents a character that is relatable, if not imitable, and for instance, we want John to succeed, even if only to shut him up. The more Daisy talks, the more we realize that no one is exceptional without a past. Her cavalier attitude and witty banter are hiding a lifetime of failures in a world just not built for someone like her. Even at her most wonderfully wretched, she is an electrical current; carrying the action on the back of her stilettos.  

Vidal Amador-Flores is Peter, John’s childhood best friend turned partner in crime. He’s a little crass (in the universe of the play, Daisy would call him “banal”) and a lot cavalier about just what needs to be done to get the job done.  Amador-Flores manages to create a foil that is hilarious, but not in a highbrow way. There’s not much about him that you can’t see right on the surface, and that takes a pitch perfect performance from the actor. Anthony Carollo plays Seymour- the widower hotelier who just does not know how to take a hint and take a hike.  

The entire production takes place in just one room of the Bunny Hill Motel (Elvis stayed in that room once, before he got big.  How do you feel about Elvis?). It’s about the lengths people will go to when they feel trapped, and just how disparate the definition of  “trapped” can be for different people. It’s funny and sad and when it’s over, and you’re aware of the dark again, you might not be willing to admit just how far you might go if you were in the same place.  

Bunny Hill Motel runs through June 1st at the New Marigny Theatre.  

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MISSIONARY IMPOSITION: MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – THE FINAL RECKONING
Review by Jeff DeRouen

For me, 1996 was the best summer of movies ever. My hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana, had finally leveled up its theatrical experience and I spent those months sitting in the brand spankin’ new United Artists Theatres air-conditioned auditoriums.

I was surrounded by Dolby and SDDS sound and lost in the perfect picture quality of hits like Twister, The Nutty Professor, Independence Day, The Rock and more. It was banger after banger that summer and, for a college- aged movie nerd like me, it was absolute cinematic paradise.

I specifically remember shoveling popcorn into my mouth and drinking real Coke when I was introduced to agent Ethan Hunt in a stylish action thriller called Mission:Impossible – starring an actor who always delivered, based on a TV show I had never seen, and directed by a guy I really loved because I was a video store geek. I was hooked.

I needed to pee, but didn’t dare leave my seat as Ethan hung there, suspended above the floor in the much-publicized Langley heist. This safe and insurance-friendly display of a movie star doing impressive gymnastics was awe-inspiring and would evolve into Cruise becoming Hollywood’s best stunt man, constantly risking his life for our enjoyment.

I won’t bore you with specific plot elements of the new installment and it’s fine if you get lost like a five-year-old in a Wal-Mart. All you need to know is Ethan and his crew must stop the Entity or it’s the end of the world. It’s a shame, though, the movie slogs along for over an hour with Ethan being driven and flown from conversation to conversation, exposition-heavy scene after scene in place of plot-driven sequences, until FINALLY he’s under water doing something and The Final Reckoning kicks into gear.

With his team (and collaborator/director Christopher McQuarrie), Tom plans, builds, and executes, the kind of grand and complex stunts that give him the rush he craves while flying through the air, making the audience squeal with pleasure knowing he could hit the side of a mountain at any moment because it’s ACTUALLY him.

And boy is it exciting when we see Tom hang off a real airplane for the climax of The Final Reckoning - hundreds of feet in the air in one of the most exhilarating action sequences ever put on film. The sheer size of it all begs to be experienced on the biggest screen possible and it was specifically filmed for IMAX, so it periodically opens to the full aspect ratio of that giant screen – see it there if you can.

Alas, Tom and I have both aged since 1996 – one of us better than the other – and he seems ready to bow out as Ethan Hunt. This movie may not be the best in the series, but it’s a fitting send off to one of the more consistently dependable popcorn properties. And, on the bright side, there’s plenty of opportunities to pee before it starts to cook.

Mission : Impossible - The Final Reckoning plays across the city

The acclaimed musical Ain’t Misbehavin’ is set to swing onto the Le Petit Stage with a cast of New Orleans locals. Winner of the 1978 Tony Award for Best Musical, this musical revue is a sassy, sultry celebration of the music and spirit of legendary jazz great, Fats Waller. 

“Ain’t Misbehavin’ is the perfect New Orleans musical,” says A.J. Allegra, Le Petit Theatre’s artistic director. “It is a collection of some of the catchiest jazz music paired with Fats Waller’s sly lyrics, whose blush-worthy double entendres are just the right mixture of naughty and nice. It’s also a celebration of Black artistic excellence in the realm of musical theatre, and our all-local cast will knock the socks right off our audiences. What a wonderful way to spend a June night in New Orleans’ French Quarter.”

Ain’t Misbehavin’ will have its opening night on Friday, June 6th, and run through June 22nd. Preview night is Thursday, June 5th, with discounted tickets for all seats.

BOX OFFICE: 504.522.2081 x 1 or lepetittheatre.com 

This June, Compère Lapin invites guests to embark on a spirited journey through the Caribbean with its Summer Rum Cruise, a five-week exploration of island flavors featuring Chairman’s Reserve Rum. The tropical voyage sets sail with a nod to St. Lucia, the home island of Chef Nina Compton, and continues with a new island destination each week.

This immersive rum experience is curated by Lead Bartender Toray Henry with Cassie Rolland, Compère Lapin’s Assistant General Manager and resident rum enthusiast, who brings her deep knowledge and passion for Caribbean spirits to each tasting and cocktail pairing.

Each “Cruise Stop” will showcase:

• Rum Flight ($35 - $45) featuring three (3) 1-ounce pours from that week’s featured island
• Signature Island-inspired Cocktail ($16 - $17), handcrafted to capture the essence of the region

The journey begins the first week of June and will spotlight a new Caribbean island each week, offering five unique experiences throughout the month.

Additional islands showcased will include Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Barbados, and French Territories (Martinique & Haiti). The Summer Rum Cruise will be available from Tuesday, June 3 - Friday, July 4, 2025. Compère Lapin is located in The Old No. 77 Hotel & Chandlery at 535 Tchoupitoulas Street, New Orleans, LA 70130. For more information or to make a reservation, please visit www.comperelapin.com or call (504) 599-2119. 

​Fool's Gold: A Review of Clown Bar 2
By Beth D’Addono

In the Clown Bar, coulrophobia - an intense fear of clowns - is the baseline for survival. If you’re not afraid of these clowns, there's no telling what could happen.

Clown Bar 2 from The Nola Project is playwright Adam Szymkowicz’s second foray into the
sordid mobster-clown underworld. It’s a dark place, a world populated by killers and cops,
hookers and racketeers. But as an alternative to the “beige life” – think living in Iowa instead of
New Orleans – it’s got heart and action. And thanks to Szymkowicz’s writing, Khiry Armstead’s
big top direction and a stellar ensemble performance, Clown Bar 2 is a hilarious study of the
absurd.

Directed as an immersive dramedy that unfolds in and around the audience, as well as onstage,
this is not a show for the literal-minded theater goer. Does it make sense that clowns kill each
other with toy guns and “bleed” streamers (amazing props made by Destiny Gotham) when they die? No, but it’s visually on point and just one of the many comic details that makes the production work.

Wearing eye-popping costumes from Shauna Leone and spot on make-up and wigs from Leslie
Claverie, the cast literally shines. They bring it – there is not a moment where their clown-dom is
in question.

If you didn’t see the original show ten years ago, not to worry, the story is easy to follow. Happy,
played with strutting exuberance by Alex Martinez Wallace, is a cop turned gangster clown who
goes missing. Two of his former colleagues show up to investigate, going “full clown”
undercover to solve the crime. A gang of western clowns led by Brigham Bill show up looking
to take over the action and sight gags and double-crossing hijinks ensue.

The Clown Bar, which boasts a cocktail list with drink descriptions like “heavy on the absinthe
and a little light in the loafers,” sets the stage for flashbacks, shoot outs, romance, and in one of
the best cameos of the evening, a loud talking mime performance by 'Cliteau, Cliteau', a tour de
force from David Sellers. There’s even a funny off-stage sex scene between the two cops, Mac,
(played by Benjamin Dougherty) and the tough-but-vulnerable Gloria (Megan Whittle).
This bar has just about every kind of clown, sex kitten clowns, singing clowns, madame clowns,
assassin clowns. Have you been to Snake and Jake’s lately?

The NOLA Project brings back a few of the original cast members, including the outstanding
Keith Claverie as sad clown Musty, the brother of the ill-fated Dusty in the first show. Acting as
a musical narrator with a classic Emmett Kelly vibe, Claverie manages to out-deadpan Steven
Wright, delivering hilarious one-liners both sung and spoken. His timing is straight-up vaudeville. Jessica Lozano is the gleefully bloodthirsty Popo – I loved her blood-spattered apron - and Natalie Boyd is multi-faceted Petunia.

Clown Bar 2 is a perfect distraction from reality, boss Petunia seeming positively presidential compared to...well, you know. The show, with its whisper of burlesque and smatterings of profanity, is for clown lovers/fearers 21 and over. As the director points out, the show is crime family friendly, not kid friendly.

Clown Bar 2 plays at the AllWays Lounge Twilight Room through June 6th. Click here for more information and ticketing. 

Beth D'Addono is the author of the excellent City Eats: New Orleans book

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