Cosimo’s

Not every dive bar in New Orleans can really fit the term ‘relaxing’ despite the supremely laid back nature of the city as a whole. Inevitably, the crowd swells, the energy amplifies and things can sometimes find a way of getting just slightly out of hand (in a good way). Cosimo’s can safely be described as relaxing, at least across my many visits, the locals-heavy nature of the bar despite its French Quarter-Marginy border location the source of a very chill, very comfortable New Orleans dive bar where it is very easy to lose all track of time (again, a good thing).

The bar known today as Cosimo’s was opened in 1934 as Gus’s Bar, operating as such until 1951 when it was reopened under its current name while retaining original owner Cosimo “Gus” LoBuono who operated the bar with wife Lela. Of course, this is New Orleans, so there is always more history to discover and as such, architectural records peg the construction of the building that today houses the bar sometime during the 1860s.

The original space was restricted to the current main bar area, though a renovation during the 1950s expanded this main room and added a second, back room styled more like a cocktail lounge than the front bar’s neighborhood feel. Over the years, Cosimo’s has hosted waves of live music (jazz, rock, even lambada), but the current event calendar is filled with a more diverse set of food specials, community events, New Orleans Saints watch parties and the occasional live music pop up. Notably, during crawfish season, large-scale boils have historically taken place here as well.

Food concepts have rotated over the years, but the small kitchen in back has traditionally been known as a strong pizza & burger source. The main room here is a long, largely narrow space, the long bar counter sitting underneath a series of slightly ornate chandelier-esque lighting fixtures hanging from the ceiling. When the sun isn’t absolutely battering New Orleans, it is common to see the local community assembled here spilled out onto a handful of tables that line the sidewalk outside of the bar.

As mentioned, there is a small secondary space here though it is often fairly lowly populated as it does feel a bit disconnected from the main room. Here, a few sports trophies can be found collected on shelving that sits far above the bar’s pool table. The nickname of bar-associated rec sports teams is, of course, the Cosimo’s Kramers, and banners attesting to the team’s successes can be found in this rear room.

The bar itself has the potential to go unnoticed given how well it blends with the Cosimo’s space, but it is massive by dive bar standards, the long structure behind the bar said to be made of mahogany. The large mirror in the center of the piece is flanked on either side by wooden columns and ornate glass cabinets. Everything here combines to create one of the great ‘neighborhood dive bar’ environments in New Orleans, the perfect spot to serve as an antidote to some of the higher intensity (let’s use that term) drinking options just a few blocks away.