Vampire Café in New Orleans serves blood bag cocktails
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The Vampire Café in the New Orleans French Quarter is hilariously gimmicky, with a menu heavy on garlic and rare meat and drinks served in blood bags.
Why it matters: It's a great photo-op and just what I needed to impress my teenaged visitors.
The big picture: New Orleans has a long history with vampires, and the restaurant leans into that.
- Utensils are gold, not silver. The servers wear bat shirts. The courses are called "bites," and your bill comes with "fang mark" temporary tattoos.
- Signs in the bathroom advertise vampire-friendly goods at nearby Boutique du Vampyre.
What I ordered: A lemonade and Vampyre Vodka blood bag cocktail ($15) and an alcohol-free pomegranate lemonade blood bag ($7.50).
- There's also a sangria option called Fangria. Ha!
- The blood bags have blood type labels and release valves on the straw. Pay attention when the server explains how to close them so it doesn't spill when you set it down. Not that I would know anything about that...
- Drinking from the bag reminded me of eating applesauce from one of my son's pouches.
The vibe: I went at lunch with my family, and it felt like eating a meal in Klaus Mikaelson's home. It wasn't scary for the kids, but there were enough nods to vampire lore to make the teens and adults chuckle.
- The menu focuses on upscale New Orleans fare — seafood, chicken, burgers and steak — with on-theme names like "scallops with blood orange oil" and "death by chocolate cake."
- They have charcuterie boards from St. James Cheese Co. and pup meals for your little werewolf.
If you go: Vampire Café is at 801 Royal St. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
- It also has weekend brunch and traditional English high tea.
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