Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Turn left on Iberville Street, walk one block to Chartres Street, and turn left.
Like Royal, Chartres offers a lot in the way of shopping, but it also has much
to offer in the way of eating. Over the last few years, Chartres has become
something of a culinary corridor, with several new restaurants—SoBou, Dor-
is Metropolitan, Kingfish, Sylvain, Tableau, and a French Quarter outpost of
Carrollton's Camellia Grill—joining K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen and Pierre
Maspero's in the five blocks between Iberville and St. Peters Streets.
Of course, you may just opt for the Napoleon House (500 Chartres St.),
which has been serving up its famous Pimm's Cups and muffulettas since
1914. The Napoleon House—one of the best bars in America, according to
Esquire
magazine—is housed in a 200-year-old building that belonged to Nic-
olas Girod, mayor of New Orleans from 1812 to 1815. Girod offered his res-
idence to Napoleon Bonaparte in 1821 as a refuge during his exile; alas, Na-
poleon died before he could make it to New Orleans.
A few doors down from the Napoleon House is the Pharmacy Museum (514
Chartres St.), the one-time apothecary shop of Louis Joseph Dufilho Jr., who
in the early 19th century became America's first licensed pharmacist. On
display are old patent medicines, books, and pharmaceutical equipment dat-
ing back as far as the early 1800s, as well as surgical instruments used in the
Civil War. Other exhibits include a re-created 19th-century physician's study
and a spectacle collection illustrating the historical development of eyewear
and other antique vision aids from around the world.
