A Homecoming in Hospitality: Joseph Leonard x Turning Tables
In a powerful full-circle moment, Turning Tables returned to the West Village for a bar takeover at Joseph Leonard—where founder Touré Folkes once cut his teeth behind the bar. The event featured a menu of eight original cocktails developed by Turning Tables alumni and one by a current Joseph Leonard bartender, each recipe telling a story of mentorship, cultural legacy, and transformation.
Set against the backdrop of the restaurant that helped launch his hospitality career, this collaboration celebrated Touré’s journey from mentee to movement-builder. It also spotlighted the next generation of bartending talent—alumni now leading programs, running bars, and shaping cocktail culture from New Orleans to New York.
“Lagniappe by the Fireplace” By Zariane "Zari" Nunez
“Lagniappe by the Fireplace” - Zariane "Zari" Nunez
My inspiration for my cocktail “Lagniappe by the Fireplace” a Sweet Potato Cold Café Brulot, is inspired by my absolute love for my city, New Orleans, daily coffee habit and insatiable desire for sweet potatoes during holiday season. I’ve been drinking coffee since I was a young girl and loved it. It became more of a ritual in my household to enjoy coffee daily with my mother.
Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, my cousins and I look forward to eating as many miniature, sweet potato pies as our stomach allows while watching home recorded videos from our childhood. We conveniently took home as many as we were able to get away with, fortunately for us, my Auntie Lisa always made extra for that very reason. It was impossible not to eat them all the first day after Thanksgiving or Christmas, but it was family tradition to savor them as long as we possibly could, just like rewatching our memories.
When I first tried Big Easy Whiskey I remember it being paired with a king cake that had been infused with the whiskey in the filling. It was the best variation I had yet, although I must admit, it made me a filled king cake “believer”. The baking spices, clove, nutmeg and cinnamon pair exceptionally well with the bitterness of coffee. I wanted to also highlight a spirit distilled locally that also has similar baking spice notes.
Bringing all of these flavors together in one profile is my ode to New Orleans and embracing the holiday season taking old traditions and mixing them with new components. While the Cold Café Brulot is typically served with brandy, in using whiskey I wanted to bring out more of the vanilla notes while highlighting the locally distilled spirit.
“Lagniappe by the Fireplace”
2oz Big Easy Whiskey
.25 cinnamon syrup
.25 dry curaçao
.75 sweet potato syrup
1oz cold brew concentrate
1 orange bitter
2 walnut bitter
Served over pebble ice in Collins glass
Swizzle, grated cinnamon and nutmeg
Bannann Punch by Chassidy Walker
Bannann Punch by Chassidy Walker
This is a cocktail that is a manifestation of when the gap between 2 worlds are bridged.
As a New Orleans native, it cannot be forgotten that the Haitian influence still exists throughout the city. The city of New Orleans is Haiti's daughter, and through my career it is an honor to pay reverence to that. Brandy Milk Punches are a favorite within my family. I wanted to reinvent something that is nostalgic to me. I was heavily inspired by the way Haitians utilize ginger & plantains in their dishes. Ginger imparts so much flavor no matter what you use it in. You can use it for savory things or desserts. I chose it within this recipe for that reason. Plantains are everywhere in multiple different Caribbean cultures. I find them to be an underrated cocktail ingredient. So I wanted to highlight that within this classic.
Strawbery Roffingac by Thomas Moore IV
Strawbery Roffingac by Thomas Moore IV
Historically this drink was consumed by Count Louis Philippe de Roffignac a former mayor in New Orleans in the 19th century. My take on this classic puts aged tequila as the star and my love for strawberries being from Louisiana and spending some time in Ponchatoula, I substitute the raspberry and club soda for strawberry and sparkling rose. I pretty much put all the things I love into one glass.
Thomas Moore IV
Strawberry Roffignac
1.5oz reposado tequila(Ocho,el Tesoro etc)
.50oz Giffard rhubarb liqueur
.50oz Strawberry Shrub
.50oz lemon juice( ppl taste buds enjoyed it more with the addition of lemons juice even tho the acid is the shrub)
.25oz cinnamon syrup
Topped with sparkling rose
Garnished with an orange curl.
Victoria’s Secret by Ed Allen
Victoria’s Secret by Ed Allen
Growing up in New Orleans was really rough, joy was something I had to learn to borrow, even if just for a moment. That’s why the first time I tasted a Victoria’s Secret Daiquiri, it felt like more than a drink—it felt like a pause from all the violence, shouting, and sirens that usually shaped my world. Its sweet strawberry hit and that smooth, chilled burn reminded me there were softer things out there, things that didn’t demand toughness to survive them. I’d hold that Styrofoam cup like it was proof I could still feel something good. Walking down Canal Street, neon lights bouncing off the melting ice, I imagined a life where sweetness wasn’t rare. Trauma taught me to stay guarded, but that daiquiri taught me that little flashes of comfort matter too. In a city that raised me rough, it was one of the first things that tasted like hope.
Victoria Secret
2 oz Coconut Rum
.75 oz Lime juice
.25 oz Amaretto
.25 oz Peach Schnapps’s
.25 Strawberry Puree
Beyond the Shadow by Ari Ballard
Beyond the Shadow (aka Réparations au-delà des ombres) tells a story rooted in the deep, complicated history of the American South. Beyond the narratives found in books like Copper Sun, the region’s past stretches into the harsh realities of slavery, cash crops, and the beginnings of today’s conversations about reparations. New Orleans, a true cultural crossroads, became a place where African, Caribbean, French, Italian, and American influences collided—shaping its food, music, spirituality, and cocktails.
The classic Vieux Carré reflects this blending of cultures, with each ingredient representing a different community in the Quarter. Réparations au-delà des ombres, however, expands this symbolism into a tribute to African American endurance and ancestral memory. It features Black Currant–washed Oxbow Rum made from cane grown at Provost Farm, a Black-owned Louisiana farm still fighting to reclaim its land. Black currant symbolizes protection in African tradition. Cognac nods to the spirits enjoyed by Black soldiers and families during wartime. Chicory-washed Campari reflects New Orleans’ tradition of mixing coffee and chicory, born from necessity. Plum bitters honor the rebellious spirit of the Black Panther Party in New Orleans.
This cocktail becomes a liquid timeline—honoring spirituality, community, resilience, and the generations who survived beyond the shadows.
Beyond the Shadows
1 1/4 oz Black Currant Provost Rum
(½ Creme de Cassis if sourci
3/4 oz Cognac (Martell)
1/2 oz Chicory Campari
1/2 Bar spoon Provost molasses
3 dashes plum butters
Chris Hannah’s French 75
French 75
The French 75 has grown to be an adopted New Orleans classic in that it has been widely popularized in New Orleans OG Legend, Chris Hannah (Arnaud’s French 75 during the cocktail renaissance between 2004-2019 which brought back a reverence for classic cocktails and their original roots. Cognac was the original base spirit used in the French 75 until phylloxera destroyed more than 2 million vineyard hectares and almost brought European wine production to a halt in severely affected areas.
One of the first recorded recipes for the French 75 comes from The Savoy Cocktail Book (1930), but the true nature of its origins is, as often happens with alcohol, slightly muddled.
One school of thought believed that Scot Harry MacElhone (owner of Harry’s American Bar in Paris), named the drink in 1926. The inspiration for the title was apparently a 75mm Howitzer
3field gun used by the French and the Americans in World War 1 called the “Soixante-Quinze’-The French 75. The gun was known for its accuracy and speed, and the French 75 is said to have such a kick that it felt like being hit by just such a weapon.
Harry MacElhone never claimed the drink as his own, though, instead citing Macgarry of Buck’s Club in London as its conceptual home.
The cocktail’s history delves back further than the 1920s – Charles Dickens used to feed Tom gin and champagne cups to his callers as far back as 1867 and there are many stories from the 19th Century of noble gentlemen, like the Prince of Wales, enjoying similar concoction
Chris Hannah’s Recipe
1/3 ounce lemon juice
1/4 ounce simple syrup (1:1, sugar:water)
1 1/4 ounces Cognac, preferably Courvoisier VS
2 1/4 ounces brut Champagne, preferably Moët & Chandon Impérial
Garnish: lemon peel
Directions
Combine the first three ingredients in a mixing tin and shake with ice.
Strain into a tulip Champagne glass.
Top with Champagne.
Garnish with a lemon peel.
* I for reference make mine 1 ½ Cognac, ¾ Simple (2:1), ½ Lemon
The Parlor Trick
2 oz House Pimm's
0.25 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz lime juice
0.25 oz cinnamon syrup
3-4 oz ginger ale, Splash Sprite (Optional)
Shake first 4 ingredients with ice, strain over fresh ice, top with ginger ale.
Garnish: apple slice, mint
Classic Serve (Ginger Ale)
2 oz Pimm's
0.25 oz lemon juice
0.25 oz lime juice
0.25 oz cinnamon syrup
3-4 oz ginger ale Shake first 4 ingredients with ice, strain over fresh ice, top with ginger ale. Garnish: apple slice, mint. Spiced Serve (Ginger Beer) Same specs, swap ginger beer for ginger ale. More kick, same soul
This event marked more than a reunion—it was a reminder of what’s possible when community, storytelling, and access collide in the hospitality industry.