Empire Bar at Broussard’s

The Empire Bar sits inside Broussard’s, a restaurant that opened in 1920 on Conti Street. It is a marble-topped bar with a Napoleonic theme and a courtyard beside it, and its cocktail menu has one drink for each decade from the 1920s to the 2020s.

Where it is

Broussard’s is at 819 Conti Street, New Orleans, LA 70112. The restaurant’s home page invites guests to “Enjoy brunch in the courtyard, dinner in our elegant dining rooms, or cocktails at the Empire Bar.”

The house and its history

Broussard’s says it “first opened its doors in 1920.” Wikipedia says Chef Joseph Broussard married Rosalie Borrello and the couple moved into her family’s mansion at 819 Conti Street, where they lived above the restaurant until they died, a month apart, in 1966. A press release on neworleans.com, last updated November 1, 2022, gives the same outline.

Accounts of the building differ. Wikipedia says the mansion was built in 1834. A January 28, 2014 article in Country Roads says Anthony and Mary Ann Borello built it in 1874. Broussard’s own site gives no building date.

Wikipedia lists later owners as Joseph Marcello and Joseph Segreto from 1975 to 1984, Gunter Preuss and family from 1984 to 2013, and Creole Cuisine Restaurant Concepts since 2013. Country Roads reported a $1 million renovation by the new owners, which expanded the bar and gave it a new white marble top.

Why “Empire”

No source here states why the bar is called the Empire Bar. What the sources do say is that the restaurant has long leaned on Napoleon. A November 5, 2013 French Quarterly article says: “The original chef/owner, Joseph Broussard, New Orleans born, French trained, had a fondness for anything Napoleonic and he imbued the restaurant with emblems...” A French Quarter directory listing says the Empire Bar “reflects a Napoleonic theme.”

The 2013 French Quarterly article says the theme carried into signature drinks, naming the Napoleon (Complex), the Egyptian Campaign, Alexandre’s Apparition, and La Jalousie, without recipes. None of those appears on the current menu page.

Cocktails Through the Decades

The bar’s own menu, Cocktails Through the Decades, lists one drink for each decade from 1920 to 2020. As of November 2026, prices run from $12 to $16. A few of them:

• 1920, Bee’s Knees ($15): Seven Three Gentilly Gin, Yellow Chartreuse, lemon, and honey-sage syrup.
• 1930, Dorothy Lamour ($14): Bumbu Rum, grapefruit, triple sec, and blueberry-pomegranate grenadine.
• 1940, Isadora Duncan ($15): Seven Three Bywater Bourbon, blackberries, lemon, and honey-sage syrup.
• 1980, Risky Business ($15): McQueen Gin, triple sec, Bénédictine, pineapple, lime, grenadine, and rhubarb bitters.
• 2010, Rougarou ($16): Patrón Reposado, Bittermens Grapefruit Syrup, lime, and sparkling wine.
• 2020, Broussard’s Smile ($12): Delacour Brandy, triple sec, lemon, ginger, and Angostura bitters.

The page also lists drinks for the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1990s, and 2000s. A September 2026 Feastio guide mentions a Crimson and Clover with Hendrick’s gin, Aperol, a housemade strawberry shrub, and sparkling wine, which is not on the menu page, so the list may change.

Paul Gustings

In January 2014, Country Roads reported that Paul Gustings, a longtime bartender at Tujague’s, had been named head bartender. French Quarterly in 2013 called him the “veteran barman” who “manages the elegant and imposing Empire Bar, the centerpiece of the restaurant,” and noted that “One of Gustings many spirits strengths is creating punches.”

Punch calls him “something of a New Orleans legend” and tells readers to “Order a Sazerac, Paul’s way.” That page is undated. No source with a 2025 or 2026 date says he is still at the bar, and Broussard’s own pages do not mention him.

The courtyard

The 2014 Country Roads article says a wisteria vine about 100 years old shades the smaller courtyard, where the bar annex sits, and that three new French doors open from the bar onto it. The Feastio guide says Broussard’s offers “one of the best open-air courtyards in the French Quarter.” Punch calls the renovated courtyard “a true sight to behold.”

The Corpse Reviver #4

Charles had the Corpse Reviver #4 on his list here, at the Empire Bar at Broussard’s. The current menu page doesn’t list a Corpse Reviver. In print, a May 4, 2015 French Quarterly article named the Empire Bar’s cocktails from Gustings as “Brandy Milk Punch, Ramos Gin Fizz, Bosom Caresser and Corpse Reviver,” without a number or ingredients.

“Corpse Reviver #4” is not a fixed name. Wikipedia says the Savoy’s Fernet-based drink is “sometimes referenced as the №4,” and Difford’s Guide lists a tequila version adapted from a 2019 Stockholm recipe. Neither mentions Broussard’s.

Before you go

As of November 2026, Broussard’s lists the Empire Bar’s hours as Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. No Monday through Wednesday hours are listed. The restaurant’s phone is 504.581.3866. Older listings, including the French Quarter directory and Punch, show different hours, so go by Broussard’s own pages.