T. Cole Newton

Born and raised in Washington, DC, T. Cole Newton moved to New Orleans in 2006 to volunteer full-time with AmeriCorps in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. After his service year, Cole took a bartending job at Commander's Palace, culinary alma mater of Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse. In 2008, he developed and implemented the cocktail program as the first bar manager at the Uptown bistro Coquette. Inspired by that experience, Cole opened his Mid City cocktail dive Twelve Mile Limit in 2010. Among other accolades, Twelve Mile Limit was chosen as the Best Bar in New Orleans by TheManual in 2017. Cole's second bar, the Domino, opened in 2019 on St. Claude Avenue in New Orleans' Bywater neighborhood.

In addition to his work in bars, Cole still volunteers extensively, sitting on the National Board of Directors of the United States Bartending Guild. He enjoys spending time with his wife, Lelia, and son, Felix, and recently beat Super Mario Brothers 3 without a warp whistle for the first time after several decades of trying.