Like many other businesses appealing to the general public, restaurants usually have distinctive logos, and sometimes an animated character designed to made ads and menus distinctive. Here is a list of the twelve most interesting of those around New Orleans. Leading the league in this regard is the Brennan family, which seems to feel that mascots are essential. The oldest of those was the tipsy-looking, sword-wielding military mariner that once fronted Commander's Palace. (He seems to have gone into retirement.)
1. Brennan's. : 417 Royal. . We will soon know just how valuable is the colorful rooster logo used for decades by the former Brennan's on Royal Street. The mascot and all the other trademarks will be auctioned shortly. Chanticleer (the official name of the rooster) has no chance of disappearing from public view. It's too good. Oddity: I saw the identical cartoon covering a wall in a hotel restaurant in Moira, New York in 1983.
2. Cafe 615 (Da Wabbit). Gretna: 615 Kepler. 504-365-1225. A rabbit who is clearly a relative of Bugs Bunny is waiting to serve you, smiling from his old highway sign. This is the best neon mascot of them all.
3. SoBou. French Quarter: 310 Chartres St.. 504-552-4095. The most fun-loving of all the restaurant mascots, SoBou's elephant even has a name: "BarBar," a take on the famous book character. I told owner Ti Martin (she of Commander's Palace) that some people might take a political statement from the elephant. She said that wouldn't happen, because being both pink and dressed in white tie and tails, BarBar is obviously gay, and probably not a member of the GOP. That's credible.
4. Antoine's. French Quarter: 713 St Louis. 504-581-4422. Antoine's mascot, like everything else at the restaurant, is very old. It depicts a stereotypical French chef with a few years on him. You see it here and there on promotional materials for the restaurant, but not a lot anymore. Maybe he's retired.
5. Cafe Adelaide. CBD: 300 Poydras St. 504-595-3305. The stylized painting of Adelaide Brennan in her youth is more a namesake than a mascot, but it's distinctive enough to serve as both.
6. Red Fish Grill. French Quarter: 115 Bourbon. 504-598-1200. A slightly goofy-looking, grinning fish--the brainchild of designer Luis Colmenares--is emblazoned everywhere in Ralph Brennan's seafood restaurant.
7. Drago's. Metairie 2: Orleans Line To Houma Blvd: 3232 N Arnoult Rd. 504-888-9254. ||CBD: 2 Poydras. 504-584-3911. Drago's invented its mascot at a time when it was casting itself as a lobster house--right before the char-broiled oysters transformed the restaurant. But oysters don't have a face, really, and the lobster said "Cheese!"
8. Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse. French Quarter: 716 Iberville. 504-522-2467. A bull of apparently high pedigree has a somber expression as he holds up a sign with his logo.
9. Pascal's Manale. Uptown 3: Napoleon To Audubon: 1838 Napoleon Ave. 504-895-4877. A shrimp playing an accordion. Well, that does capture the essence of Manale's, calling to mind both its most famous dish and its Italian heritage.
10. Johnny's Po-Boys. French Quarter: 511 St Louis. 504-524-8129. Johnnie's drawing of a workingman on a lunch break about to take a big bite from a poor boy sandwich is identical to one used in ads for something called "poor boy studs" by Hill-Behan Lumber Company in the 1950s and 1960s. Who had it first, I don't know, but Hill-Behan isn't here anymore, and Johnnie's still makes the best poor boy sandwiches in town.
11. Juan's Flying Burrito. Metairie: 2018 Magazine. 504-581-3866. The original meaning of "burrito" was "a small wild horse." So what does a flying burrito look like. Like the restaurant's mascot, of course.
12. Ralph & Kacoo's. French Quarter: 519 Toulouse. 504-522-5226. A catfish stands on his dorsal fins, grinning and wearing a sailor's cap. Indeed, R&K's made its reputation with fried catfish long before it became an all-purpose seafood house.
