Nashville Sake Bar Coming to New Orleans
Algiers Point is a great area in New Orleans, and it has been chosen as the landing spot of a new sake bar. Rice Vice in Nashville is the original bar that was established by a Nashville sake brewery.
The New Orleans Rice Vice will be located at 143 Delaronde St. The bar is now under construction in what used to be a barbershop. It will be a small venture with 20 seats in about 400 square feet. The bar is located next to the Nighthawk Naploletana a new pizza restaurant. Early 2024 is the time frame for the bar’s opening.
“The whole point is to lower the barrier for people who want to explore this,” said Rice Vice founder Bryon Stithem. “It can be as deep learning experience as you want to make it.”
“There was a time when I was working in New York, and had access to all this great sake,” Stithem said. “When I came back to the South, the only way I could get access to the something like that again was to make my own.”
Stithem started his own sake brewery called Proper Sake Co. in Nashville. To showcase his product, Rice Vice opened its doors. The sake bar has been recognized as one of the best bars in the country by Esquire Magazine.
His love for New Orleans brought him here to start another sake bar and its perfect spot was the location in Algiers Point. His partner in the project, Bryson Aust, lives in Algiers Point and is partner also to the new pizzeria.
“Italian food and sake are great together, it’s umami on umami,” Stithem said.
“I started out as someone with an American understanding of sake, that there was hot and cold, filtered and unfiltered, and that was it,” said Aust. “But it really does run as deep as wine.”
