:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58774021/28168483_1993191754029216_7892934544120058497_n.0.jpg)
Chris Hannah, head bartender at the James Beard Award-winning French 75, is joining rum wunderkind Nick Detrich and Konrad Kantor in opening a new Cuban bar.
The destination, located in the French Quarter spot vacated when Cuban restaurant by El Libre decided to move Uptown, will be called Manolito. It is slated to open the third week of March, and is described as “an El Floridita inspired Cuban bar,” courtesy of several trips Hannah and Detrich took together to Cuba, reports drinks website NeatPour.
This means that Detrich is opening two bars now that he has returned to New Orleans. He’s partnering with Konrad Kantor to open Everywhen on Rampart Street later this year. Kantor helped open the French Quarter’s El Libre, which is the new home of Manolito.
Importantly, Hannah is not leaving Arnaud’s French 75 bar, which he led to a James Beard award in 2017.
The petite, 35-seat Manolito will serve some classic drinks like the Daiquiri No. 4, Papa Dobles, El Presidenté, along with some original concoctions. The bartenders will use a “Basque technique of throwing the drink,” according to the report, which means that martinis will be mixed by pouring the drinks several times from high up in the air.
The group named the restaurant for Cuban bartender (and mentor to Hannah and Detrich) Manuel Carbajo, who died this past year.
Detrich became well-known in the cocktail world for Cane & Table, the proto-tiki rum bar and restaurant he developed with the folks from Cure after becoming interested in rum. In May of 2016, Esquire published David Wondrich’s list of the 18 best bars in America. Cane & Table made the list. In 2015, Cane & Table received a nod from the James Beard Awards for Outstanding Bar Program.
Detrich left Cane & Table, where he was managing partner, in March 2017 to travel. Since then, he’s been to Mexico, Iceland, and worked at a New Orleans-inspired cocktail bar in London. He returned and announced plans for Everywhen at the beginning of the year.
