50 Best Southern Bars

Hotel  Bars



The Driskill Bar in Austin, Texas
Flush with leather and drowsy lighting, Austin’s oldest hotel bar is like a private study that surrendered to boozy drinks and indulgent snacks a century ago. Suits and boots alike occupy seats around the glass-topped grand piano, hexagonal bar, and cowhide couches, with a music legend or two often sprinkled among the crowd. driskillgrill.com


The Purser’s Pub 
St. in Michaels, Maryland
A favorite of well-heeled Chesapeake sailors or visiting Washington, D.C., hotshots, this bead-board-walled bar is set inside the tony Inn at Perry Cabin. Order a dozen fresh oysters at sunset with a beer or an ice-cold “up” martini (vodka, please), then stare out at the sailboats on the bay, and you have the whole Chesapeake experience spread across a tabletop. 
perrycabin.com




Juke Joints


Lassis Inn
 in Little Rock, Arkansas
Contrary to popular belief, fried fish, not pork barbecue, is the signal food served by our region’s jukes. Open since the early 1900s, this joint upholds that tradition by dishing ribs of battered and fried buffalo fish, layered between cottony slices of white bread. To wash down those bones, snag a tall-boy can of domestic. 501-372-8714


Po’ Monkey’s Lounge in Merigold, Mississippi
A former sharecropper’s shack made of unpainted cypress planks and roofed with corrugated steel, Monkey’s is one of the last rural juke joints around. It’s only open on Thursday nights, and you’re greeted at the door by owner William Seaberry, aka Po’ Monkey, before settling in to a DJ spinning soul, R&B, and blues. The kitchen sells beer and soda, but if you want something stronger, you can BYOB. msbluestrail.org

Red’s Lounge in Clarksdale, Mississippi
There’s no sign, but if you see a guy grilling chicken on the sidewalk, you’ve found it. Don’t expect frills. Just some chairs, couches, and beer (and maybe some moonshine if you ask owner Red Paden nicely). But it’s real-deal blues, with local legends like Terry “Big T” Williams and T-Model Ford doing the honors. 
395 Sunflower Ave.




Oyster  Bars

Gilhooley’s Raw Bar in San Leon, Texas
The wooden floor dips when you walk on it, and the roof leaks when it rains. No matter. It’s the bivalves that count. Oysters Gilhooley—fresh-shucked oysters dotted with garlic butter and smoked over pecan wood—may well be the best barbecued oysters on the Gulf Coast. 
281-339-3813

Indian Pass Raw Bar
 in Port St. Joe, Florida
After Hurricane Kate virtually destroyed the McNeill family’s wholesale oyster operation in 1985, owner Jim McNeill decided to open a bar and sell their oysters direct. Good thing for the rest of us. The oysters are usually served the same day they’re caught, and they come raw, baked, gratinéed, or steamed—but never fried. indianpassrawbar.com