BJ's Lounge

BJ's Lounge sits on a darkened residential corner at 4301 Burgundy Street in the Bywater, so nondescript it practically hides in plain sight. Once called George's, where patrons pressed a buzzer for speakeasy-style entry, the cash-only bar retains the patina of decades past -- a wall of patron snapshots, a racecar suspended over the pool table, and a mounted deer head beside a glossy Fats Domino portrait. King James and the Special Men play every Monday night at 10 p.m. with free red beans and rice, and blues elder Little Freddie King holds court regularly on the small stage. When the bands aren't playing, one of the city's funkiest jukeboxes, loaded with classic New Orleans R&B, fills the room.