Jeff Berry — known universally as Beachbum — is the man who spent twenty years unearthing the lost cocktail recipes of the great tiki pioneers and writing the books that revived the entire genre. In 2014, he stopped writing and started serving. Latitude 29 at 321 N. Peters Street in the French Quarter is the result: a dimly lit, mid-century modern tiki gastropub inside the Bienville House Hotel that Esquire named one of the Best Bars in America within five months of opening. The Pontchartrain Pearl Diver — buttered rum, honey, passion fruit, lime — is the signature. The Hawaii 504 with honey and ginger is the locals’ pick. The pimento cheese rangoons are an inspired Louisiana-tiki fusion that nobody else would have thought of.
