Holiday Happy Hour at Home
The holiday season is upon us and, like everything else, it will be a bit different this year. There will likely be fewer people, less spirited revelry and we will be forced to find ways to use our creative…
Recipes
Loews New Orleans Hotel Shares Flavorful “Getaway in a Glass”
NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Loews New Orleans Hotel is sharing its iconic cocktail, the NOLA Hurricane to give a little taste of New Orleans for those dreaming of a getaway. “Getaways in a Glass” is a new Loews Hotels brand-wide…
Brunch Bunch: Melanie’s Mellow (or Not) Michelada
This week I hit month four of my six-month alcohol-free challenge. (It’s going well, I don’t miss booze and I feel great, thanks for asking!) I celebrated by mixing up and hoisting an ice-cold Michelada. That is, an ice cold,…
Crazy Times Call For Crazy Cocktails
Many of us are swirling from the whirlwind of hurricanes, the pandemic, elections and so much more these days. And recently, some of you have been asking us for cocktails to match our ever changing moods. So, we are…
Staying in or Heading Out: The Best for This Weekend
This past was a particularly crafty weekend. I spent it carving elaborate pumpkins with my niece and creating one of those monster-themed candy shoot things so we can issue candy to trick-or-treaters from a distance. That Halloween is on…
Nosh: Bowled Over
Everyone needs an impressive soup under your belt, and nothing says “I’m about to impress the hell out of my guests” better than a good bisque. In some cities they call it “chowder,” but in New Orleans, when we make…
Wine Not?
I know what you are thinking: What’s the point of a zero proof French 75? It is said to have been created not long after World War I and named after a French 75mm field gun, precisely because of…
The Best Sandwiches to Check out this Weekend and an Oyster Recipe to Make at Home
I have identified several large, centuries-old oak trees with ground sweeping boughs in public spaces in various small neighborhood parks around town in which to meet friends. It is always 10 to15 degrees cooler under such a tree and…
Rerun: Bars Doing it differently, Again
The new government rule states that bars can now begin serving to-go drinks again, but other restrictions still remain in place. Our suggestion is that you check with a place before you go in to make sure you are…
The Best Reasons to Visit My Happy 'Hood, the Land of Tacos and Margaritas
I was 27 when I bought my home near Magazine and Jefferson in Uptown's West Riverside neighborhood. That was 1996 and I still love it here. I never get bored. I have seen things change and, due to an…
Recipe Pairs Well With Virtual Festivals Acadiens et Créoles
LAFAYETTE, La – Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is going virtual this year, but that doesn't mean you can't add a little something special while celebrating at home. Acadian Slice sent their "Brown Butta Pecan Pie" recipe to Acadiana Profile…
The Best: Welcome Autumn This Weekend
Unlike the hours-long little teaser that dropped us into the mid 70s last weekend, a bonafide days-long cool front offering evening lows in the 60s and daily highs in the 70s has settled upon our weary, sweaty city. The…
Twist on a Punch
Bartender Toure Folkes founded Turning Tables in July 2019. Turning Tables advocates for equity in the hospitality industry providing mentorship, educational tools and classes, as well as exposure for the brown and black community of New Orleans. A core component…
Everything Is Better With Booze
"Work hard, play hard" – the phrase so many of us in New Orleans have lived by for years. COVID-19 has made the mantra a bit harder. Now, finding a place that offers drink specials and happy hours is…
The Best Cool Bites to Get You Out of the Kitchen
Though an enthusiastic cook and appreciative of the slight reprieve from the summer temperatures, I remain unconvinced that Gumbo Weather is upon us. I am still avoiding heat belching ovens, roiling liquids in a hot pots, and, for the most…
The Best Things to Check Out This Weekend
The temperature seems to be giving us a little break, and there are some exciting things to celebrate on the culinary scene. Check it out. When she died last year at age 96, Chef Leah Chase, the embodiment of…
Live Kids Cooking Classes with SoFAB
NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Live Kids Cooking Classes with SoFAB Kids! Every other Wednesday at 4 p.m., kids 7-11 years old, or adults young at heart, are invited to cook along with Miss Jennie via zoom and FB…
A Sweet, Minty Julep for Kentucky Derbying at Home
Due to the weirdness that is our year of the pandemic, the 146th Kentucky Derby did not run on the first Saturday in May. Rather, it is running tomorrow — the first Saturday in September. My husband and I are…
The Best Way to Celebrate Nothing at All This Weekend, Because Why Not?
Long story short, I ended up in Greenville, Mississippi at the home of Frankie Keating for an extended stay after Katrina. She and her then recently departed husband, Bern, were a brilliant, elegant, worldly couple, who were still going…
Chicken Dance
Chicken is to a cook what an empty canvas is to a painter. It suggests infinite possibilities, limited only by one’s imagination and talent. There have probably been more culinary improvisations involving chicken than most any other ingredient, in part…
The Best Weekend Cheap Thrills
A couple of weeks ago my suggestions for dining out – or at least acquiring food from somewhere other than your own kitchen – on the cheap were received with enough enthusiasm as to warrant additional exploration of the…
New Orleans Chefs Share Labor Day Recipes
NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Chefs Nina Compton, Isaac Toups and Bryan Landry have shared a few of their favorite recipes ahead of Labor Day celebrations. Chef Brian Landry, Bayou Bar 1&1 Burger with Hickory BBQ Sauce - No…
Date Night: Pandemic Edition
With statewide and city pandemic phasing and social distancing mandates still in place and a few tropical storms in the Gulf of Mexico, it is easy to let everything consume your mood and completely kill the romance. But it’s…
The Best Ways to Enjoy Gulf Shrimp This Weekend
With potential atmospheric calamities threatening to enter the Gulf, record-breaking temperatures, nowhere to go and nothing to do, continuing record high unemployment, a barbaric election cycle, and COVID – a most unwelcome guest now bearing the stench of nearly…
Last Call: Old is New Again
In the heat of a New Orleans summer, like now, for instance, creativity and more effort fade away to a “Let’s just get this done as quickly as possible” attitude. Understandable. The daiquiri cocktail takes its name from both a…
Food: Peachy Keen
I once tracked down the best routes out of New Orleans to load up on fresh peaches in August. That’s not to say the grocery stores weren’t selling them, but I have a childhood love of food fresh off the…
Wanna Grab A Drink?
Baby, it’s hot outside and many of us are looking for cool cocktails to beat the heat. Finding a place that is open might be a bit of a challenge these days, but if you call ahead and ask around,…
The Best Cheap Eats to Check Out This Weekend
Whether you have a hole in your pocket the size of 1. The job you used to have before COVID; 2. The federally enhanced unemployment check you used to get before the system went off of the rails; 3.…
The Best Things to Do in St. Tammany Parish on the Cheap This Weekend
I love to go tubing. A simple creature, plopping my butt in an inner tube then floating down a river with a group of friends while alternating between eating fried chicken and drinking beer (this is the only time…
Recettes de cocktails: In Pursuit of Simplicity
While the swimsuits and shorelines of summer vanish with the Sept. 22 autumn equinox, Acadiana’s cooling cocktails prevail with the lingering heat. Soaring temperatures invariably converge with the onset of fall, when fields of sugar cane reach harvest heights along…
Drink Up, NOLA
Changing the way you cocktail in the Big Easy
about
Daniel Victory is creator and owner of Victory and New Orleans Drink Lab. He has been lauded as a pioneer of the New Orleans "craft cocktail" emergence and is considered one of the most engaging ambassadors of the Crescent City.
His dedication to preserving the artistry and sophistication of classic cocktail creation, as well as the ambiance and high standard of service set forth by many generations old bartenders, sets Daniel Victory apart from the rest.
Daniel Victory said, “If bartending was a science then every martini would be the exactly the same (at least everyone using the same brand). Exact measurements of all the ingredients would yield exactly the same drink. It’s simple scientific method — a system of repeatable experiments that yield the same results. However, anyone who has ever had martinis will tell you, they are not all the same.”
To Victory, bartending is an art form.
By 2009 Victory garnered international acclaim after being recognized as one of the top 5 bartenders in GQ Magazine/Bombay Sapphires “Most Inspired Bartender” contest. After appearing in the December 2009 issue of GQ, Daniel traveled the world as a National Ambassador for Bombay Sapphire. After a year of never being in the same place more than 3 nights and a whirlwind of knowledge he decided it was time to return home, plant his roots and explore cocktail consulting.
In an effort to preserve everything he learned, Daniel became one of the founders and lead educators of the Crescent City School of Bartending and influential in establishing The Flo Woodward Memorial Scholarship.
Daniel is a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program and the Goldman Sachs & Bloomberg LP Business Coaching program.
The next step in leaving his imprint on his hometown is Victory. Nestled in between the Central Business District and New Orleans’ famed Canal Street, stands the physical combination of his aesthetic, travels, smarts & history. Victory has high standards and is often found molding the next generation of bartenders.
In 2015 Victory expanded his vision and yet again put his skills to work. The Old New Orleans Drink Lab is born. A groovy, old world feel where cocktail history and education are his top priority. Here you'll learn to make Crescent City classic cocktails and get the history along with it.
With Victory constantly mixing things up, there’s no sign of slowing down.
