New Orleans nightlife is a trial of discovery fit for any wayward explorer.  Sifting through unruly dives and hoity lounges, walking through upscale neighborhoods and shuttering through seemingly vacant streets just to find that one bar with everything. 

Music scene?  Cheap drinks?  Free food?   The definition of everything is different for each Christopher Columbus, but my personal Americais the Candlelight Lounge. 

Tucked away in the now-much-ballyhooed Treme neighborhood near Louis Armstrong Park, the Candlelight lounge is a shack, oozing with people and booming with music.  On Wednesday nights, the Treme Brass Band rocks the neighborhood and the bar serves free red beans and rice to all guests. 

Inside, the bar resembles a lounge, with a number of tables and chairs set and service while you sit, except the tables are covered with a plastic tablecloth and the food is served free (except for the tip, of course).  The red beans and rice may be warmed in a microwave and served in a plastic bowl, but its flavor is far richer than the meager serving utensils.  Multiple servings are allowed and encouraged. 

Bands play to the left of the entrance, on a lifted stage set for the musicians to sit while performing.  The Treme Brass Band has been playing their gig at the Candlelight Lounge for 7 years.  Led by Benny Jones, Uncle Lionel and the boys usually perform during second lines and parades that dot the New Orleans area, but don’t mind the Wednesday night gig when they get to sit and play some classic brass songs.  During some sets, the crowd may be seated, nodding heads to the smooth brass, but others bring the crowd to its feet.  In true New Orleans style, any late-comer must walk through the crowd of people bumping to the music in order to get in and to the bar.  The bar consists of two wooden shelves with mini bottles of liquor.  Order a gin and pineapple and the bartender will empty a tiny bottle of pineapple juice into a glass after emptying half the contents of a flask sized bottle. 

The wooden walls are covered with posters and pictures of New Orleans greats.  Just waiting to use the restroom, I learned a lot about Brass Brand history from the walls.

The band begins at 9 ish.  Come around 10 and you will find a slew of sweaty people, streaming out the door for some cooler air in between sets.  The crowd covers the street, sharing stories of past nights at the Candlelight Lounge, or giving advice on how to enjoy New Orleans for newcomers.  Some nights there is a tent serving food outside as well if you cannot partake in red beans on a day other than Monday, but this food is not free.  The mural on the outside of the Lounge is the only thing setting the large, long room apart from the shotgun homes surrounding it.  The only light coming from the quiet neighborhood is from this lounge, and the only people spilling from inside.

The Treme has become better known and more trafficed since the premier of the HBO show, and the Candlelight Lounge has taken advantage of that.  A few scenes were filmed in the lounge and the band is featured on and off screen.  The crowd has changed a bit, and there is now a $5 cover charge for the evening, but it is still a unique New Orleans experience for any explorer looking for something new.