A Famed NYC Cocktail Bar Will Open Its Second Site in New Orleans

A critically-acclaimed and heavily-awarded cocktail bar in New York’s Financial District is embarking on a global expansion, and its first stop for a new site will be New Orleans’s French Quarter. The Dead Rabbit Grocery & Grog will open Dead Rabbit NOLA sometime next year on Conti Street, ahead of a US and global expansion that aims to see ten new sites open over the next ten years.

Sean Muldoon and Jack McGarry opened the Financial District bar in New York in 2013, gaining international recognition for combining top-notch craft cocktails and food with a laid-back Irish pub vibe (sawdust covers the bar’s floor). It was named the best World’s Best Bar in 2016 by Drinks International magazine, an honor decided by more than 450 votes from people around the world in the industry.

The Dead Rabbit eventually grew so busy that the pair decided to expand its FiDi footprint to the space next door, with McGarry saying at the time that “an Irish pub should never have a strict-door policy.”

McGarry and Muldoon told Drinks International that Dead Rabbit New Orleans will first open as a pop-up during the 2020 Tales of the Cocktail, and launch fully a few months later. Muldoon said New Orleans has “everything we are looking for,” in their expansion. “It’s a fun city, a drinking city. It’s all about hospitality and fun. There will be plenty of tourists in the French Quarter.”

Dead Rabbit’s beverage director Jillian Vose said that a menu of 12 cocktails will replicate those of the New York location’s ground-floor bar, Taproom, “so our offering is consistent.”

The Conti Street address for Dead Rabbit New Orleans, which has not yet been named, apparently shares similarities with the original bar. “It’s a tri-level space, like 30 Water Street,” McGarry told Drinks International. “The first floor will be mostly standing, but will continue upstairs which will be seated and has an outside space. There will be space for 120 people with about 30-40 people on the third floor.”

According to DI, the trio are already looking at sites in Nashville for a third Dead Rabbit location. If the US expansion proves successful, a global expansion will focus on hub cities like London and Singapore.

Check back with Eater New Orleans for a projected opening date and further location details.

Do you have a hot restaurant tip? Noticed a spot in your neighborhood opening or closing? Send an email.

Looking for restaurant recs or a place to chat about favorite restaurants? Join Eater NOLA’s Facebook group.

• Top Cocktail Bar the Dead Rabbit’s Huge New Space Opens Next Week [ENYC]
• Dead Rabbit NOLA poised ahead of US roll out [DRINKSINTERNATIONAL]