Drexler's

The upright piano still remains in the former Ella Lounge space, but its half-moon banquettes and Hollywood-mimed kitsch has been traded for a touch of New Orleans’ French Quarter, courtesy of downtown-bar proprietor Darin Rubell (Boulton & Watt, Forrest Point). Decorated with vintage cast-iron bathtubs repurposed as ice vessels, a zinc bar and a wrought-iron staircase leading boozers to a downstairs cellar floor, the 65-seat, bi-level watering hole stirs cocktails like a California Milk Punch shot with rum, brandy and green tea, and an Employee of the Month with Mount Gay, sherry and passion fruit juice sloshing in an oversize trophy cup. Joining the potables are Melt Bakery ice-cream sandwiches and shareable meat-and-cheese plates.