The Boxer & The Barrel

great beer, great music, had a fun time on a movie night here. Overall awesome atmosphere!

Party invites mean traveling down the bayou for a birthday soirée. Solid local bar with friendly faces and a diverse clientele. The drinks were good, beers and basic pours. The art and band were great. Easy street parking nearby.
But I forgot the smoking ban was local to New Orleans only and the raging cigarette smoke in this place almost did me in. I felt like my sinuses had been stuffed with ashes.

This place reminded me of the college bars of my youth with one glaring difference: tolerance. All kinds of people were mixing, mingling and having a great time without incident. All of this pleasant exchange? DOWNTOWN HOUMA!
BIg bar selection, live music and witty banter. If you’re lucky? Rockstar parking!

1^st time in on 6/28/13…around 4ish… great divey atmosphere…24 beers on tap…2 of them combined together makes a truly special beer (Guinness & Smithwicke) that I call a «Blacksmith» cause it will pound you! Some places call it an Irish Split but I like my name for it better plus it sounds way cooler…
Anyway, this place can serve you that & that alone raises this place into the pantheon of damn cool places to hang out! Owner was working the bar when I stopped in and he is one cool cat…
The regulars that stopped in were a fun bunch and had quite a few laughs with them… but back to the Blacksmith, both a blessing and a curse… I planned to just enjoy a couple and head out of town but they just tasted so damn good and I felt so comfortable hanging at this joint I found myself continuing to say «Uno mas»…and next thing I know the night was going full roar and careening off into crazy directions…
And none of the craziness would have been possible without first starting at this epic dive with an owner knowledgable enough to carry those 2 beers that mix into such a wonderful concoction! Big fan and can’t wait to hit this place again and knowing this place is there my next stop in will be sooner rather than later…
Find yourself in Houma, stop in, grab a beer or something stronger I’m pretty sure you’ll be made to feel welcome…

This friendly little bar has it all, it seems:
–live music (the day I was here was a parade day and they had a really great blues act)
–the work of Re Howse, local artist extraordinaire gracing the walls
–phenomenal Bloody Marys (salty/​spicy/​garnished well) for only 5 bucks?!
–friendly bar keep (when I mentioned I liked pickled stuff in my Mary, she put in a whole ton of stuff. Helllllo Sunday brunch!)
–nice crowd of regulars (your «Cheers» alert)
–clean bathrooms (quite a feat on parade day, let’s be real)
–fried king cake (what the what!!!)
If I lived in Houma, I might never leave!

I’ve lived in the Bayou area since after returning to Louisiana after hurricane Katrina… not many friends but a few… I found it hard for a artist from L.A. to fit into the area. Then a year ago I was invited by a fellow artist to join a group art show at The Boxer & The Barrel (The Boxer as regulars call it) and I was immediately transported into the Heavens. a cool indie vibe vibrates through this place. Quirky, outside of the box artwork hangs for sale created by local artists. A full bar and many very cool beers on tap (I’m a Guinness girl). In talking to the owner Todd Rowan, he said he wanted to create a European pub feel and also be a place where indie bands could feel at home. He has since added his top notch restaurant, The Duke next door making a late night meal a breeze (there is an entrance from the Boxer directly into the Duke). In one year i have made so many friends here and if you are the creative type, this is the place to hang… Artists, musicians, writers, cool people, out of towners and the likes call this place home. I love this place… I love the Duke… if I was stuck someplace far away… I’d close my eyes, click my ruby red slippers together, think of the Boxer & the Barrel and repeat there’s no place like home… there’s no place like home…