NOLA’s Rock Bar brings Mardi Gras to CU
Photo Courtesy of Leslie Galambos
NOLA’s Rock Bar, located on Main Street in Urbana, hosts a wide range of themed events such as Open Mic Mondays and Friday Jazz Happy Hour.
March 4, 2022
Champaign-Urbana’s got a taste of Mardi Gras Tuesday night at NOLA’s Rock Bar.
The bar, one of the community’s few live music venues, celebrates the New Orleans spirit all year-round. The bar kicked it into gear with their Fat Tuesday celebration on Mar. 1.
NOLA’s was created to liven up the community’s nightlife scene.
Ian Goldberg, owner of the bar, said he’s been to New Orleans for various occasions and wanted to bring that to C-U.
“After many years of traveling to New Orleans for different events and festivals, I came to love the city and its emphasis on live music,” Goldberg said. “I wanted to bring some of those good vibrations back here to Central Illinois and pay tribute to what a wonderful city NOLA is.”
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The venue is decorated with handmade art made to resemble New Orleans’ eclectic nature, he said.
“Once you walk in the door, you will immediately feel the vibe of the city, which comes with music, good food, good times and happy fun people,” Goldberg said.
NOLA’s specialties include cajun dishes, such as the gumbalaya (a mix of gumbo and jumbalaya), red beans and rice. For Mardi Gras Season, it also has a special crawfish, crab and corn bisque.
For the Fat Tuesday event, the bar offered vibrant drinks, including “King Cake” shots and Hurricanes, a New Orleans specialty.
The event started off with the New Orleans Jazz Machine, moved into Sixth Street Brass and ended with DJ Belly to close out the night.
“And of course the beads,” Goldberg said. “We have a plethora of cool Mardi Gras beads on hand for Fat Tuesday and every Friday for our regular Party Gras series of events.”
The accessory is an essential part of an authentic Mardi Gras celebration.
Goldberg said his favorite part of NOLA’s is “seeing all the happy people having fun, enjoying the music and good food.”
“NOLA’s is a place for everyone,” Goldberg said. “We host different weekly nights, including Open Mic Mondays, NOLA’s en Fuego (a latin music dance night) on Wednesdays, Comedy Night on Thursday and, of course, our Party Gras Fridays and Live Music Saturdays.”
The event met expectations with amazing food and drinks, live entertainment and fun energy.
