A New Orleans original, the Vieux Carré (pronounced vyoo kah-RAY) takes a French name, meaning “old square,” and in this context, that’s the oldest part of the city: the French Quarter. While there’s no precise date of its creation, the recipe first takes the light of print in 1937 in Stanley Clisby Arthur’s “Famous New Orleans Drinks & How to Mix ‘Em,” wherein the author credits the drink to Walter Bergeron … a year before many writings say the drink was even invented.
We do know that Bergeron served as head bartender at Hotel Monteleone in—where else?—the French Quarter, both before and after Prohibition, and his creation became the hotel bar’s signature drink. Since 1949, the historic hotel has been the home of Carousel Bar & Lounge, and as the name suggests, the round bar looks like a carnival ride and even rotates like its namesake (albeit slower, thank heavens)….