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THE BAR
Designed to resemble a cypress tree’s
trunk turned upside down, the rust-red
back wall of the bar was crafted by
Kern Studios, a firm best known in New
Orleans for carving the giant Styrofoam
figures that decorate Mardi Gras floats.Not a good feeling. Something about
sleeping in a former convent gave me
the creeps. As much as I tried other-
wise, I kept picturing the World War
II–era schoolhouse in Au Revoir les
Enfants (a strangely seminal movie in
my childhood). Then I showed up to
meet a friend for a drink at the hotel’s
restaurant, the Elysian Bar, which
occupies the ground floor of a building
that used to be the rectory. And I real-
ized: Sometimes I am kind of an idiot.
Calling this a bar is an understate-
ment. First of all, it’s a full-on restau-
rant, from chef Alex Harrell and the
team behind the beloved NOLA hang-
out Bacchanal. You can make a meal
out of gulf shrimp showered in bot-
targa breadcrumbs or steamed mus-
sels in smoky tomato broth—this is not
a town that messes with dainty bar
snacks. Second, this is less a defined
space and more a multiroom wonder-
land, with a sunny patio, elegant par-
lor rooms, and a cozy bar that feels
straight out of a Hollywood movie set.
The complex has been revived by
Nathalie Jordi, a former journalist, in
collaboration with the Brooklyn-based
developer ASH NYC (also behind
Providence’s The Dean hotel and The
Siren in Detroit) and NOLA’s Studio-
WTA. Together they transformed the
1860s Catholic church and school-
house into 71 hotel rooms unlike any
other—plus magical open-to-the-
public spaces like this very bar.
At a time when design trends come
and go so fast (ahem, pink neon), it’s
unusual to step into a space with such
a deep sense of character. There’s not
much more I could have asked for in
this setting than a cool vermouth spritz,
a perch on one of the custom cherry-
leather stools, and a long, lazy after-
noon with nowhere else to be. Turns
out, you can have all that, with a flaw-
less caviar-topped omelet too. —J.K.
I HAD A
FEELiNg ABOUT