Two Brennans

Maybe I’m more excited about deals than the average person, but I do love them. Some are good, some are lame, but all are enticing in some way. This month I visited two different Brennan restaurants from different Brennans, each offering prices too good to be true. I had to see them for myself.

Since the Palace Cafe closed, I have had more food from there than when it was open. Dickie Brennan keeps offering parts of The Palace Cafe menu in pop-ups at his other restaurants. When I see these, I jump right in, even though I wasn’t all that big a fan of the Palace Cafe.

The first time I did it, the pop-up was at The Commissary, a place I love. I was not familiar with one of the menu items, the Cajun Cuban sandwich, but we went for the crabmeat cheesecake anyway. The trouble was, it was definitely not the one I remembered from the last days of the restaurant. The crabmeat cheesecake was not on the menu at the latest Palace Cafe pop-up at The Bourbon House, though I’m not sure I would have gotten it after the version at The Commissary. I have seen the Cajun Cuban other places too, but I didn't like it enough at The Commissary to get it again, anyway. But this Bourbon House pop-up had its own appeal, and a few more dishes on it than the one at the Commissary. The entree prices were set at $19.91, the year the restaurant was founded. There were more choices than at The Commissary. There were only three entrees, Bananas Foster, and a cocktail on this menu. There were two shrimp dishes, one with andouille and pasta in a cream sauce, and another with rice. And a fish dish.

The Pasta St. Charles was a housemade rigatoni with andouille sausage and shrimp in a Creole cream sauce. I got that, but I also got Andouille Crusted Gulf Fish when I was told it was speckled trout. The only entree I left was the Shrimp Tchefuncte, which had mushrooms and a Creole Meuniere Sauce. I don’t like the thick Creole Meuniere Sauce, so I left the dish even though the rice was Louisiana Popcorn Rice, which to me has a flavor that is almost Heavenly.

As I often do with great deals like this, I added something from the regular menu. This time I started with the seafood gumbo. The famous, and I do mean famous, local classic dish has come to mean anything. I remember the days of Bozo’s, when a gumbo was served that included everything. It had seafood, and chicken, and andouille, and okra. It seemed like two different gumbo pots had merged by accident. It is only lately that I have come to learn that it is really a “Creole” gumbo, which means an everything gumbo, or anything you want it to be. Since then I have ceased to be offended by this blurring of the lines, so I can now enjoy it for whatever it is. This “seafood” gumbo was just shrimp, okra, and andouille. No chicken, which doesn’t belong in a seafood gumbo, but then neither does andouille. But that’s just my fierce traditionalist sensibilities coming out. 

The Andouille Crusted Gulf Fish was just fine, but I don’t get the craze for it that I think was around when it was around. There was a bit of a crunch to it, which I thought might be nuts, but it was breadcrumbs. The andouille did not impart any significant meaty flavor to counter the fish. This was served with rissole potatoes,  essentially a pan-fried red potato in butter. These were, first, a bit too firm for me and seemed far less interesting than a typical rissole potato. The sauce was billed as a chive aioli, but it had distinct citrus notes to it.  Altogether, this was a perfectly fine dish, and a deal at $19.91, if for no other reason than the speckled trout. But that might be the only reason.

The Pasta St. Charles was more pleasing to me. The housemade rigatoni was al dente, quite al dente, but for some reason I didn’t mind. Normally I am annoyed by al dente pasta, but this didn’t register that way (annoying, not al dente. It was most definitely quite al dente.) Maybe it was the housemade pasta that kept it from gumminess, or the delicious Creole cream sauce. There was a lot of shrimp in this dish, and even more slices of andouille. There was definitely no skimping on ingredients.

When I first had the Commissary housemade andouille, I thought it was the best I had ever had. But in subsequent experience with it, I have decided it has been tweaked in the wrong direction. I find the grind too tight now. Disappointing.

Still, this was certainly a good enough dish, and for the price, a nice deal. I would recommend this if you were a heartbroken fan of The Palace Cafe, but the $19.91 price for this is not enough of a draw for me to brave this neighborhood, or the restaurant, which has never moved me either.

The second of these “founding year prices" special menus I experienced was a Ralph Brennan restaurant not far from The Bourbon House.  A few years ago Ralph Brennan acquired The Napoleon House, which may be the only reason I would ever have set foot in the place. And that would have been so unfortunate for me. I love the Napoleon House. It should be a must for any visitor here. And for locals too, though this local only went a few years ago.

The place is just so fantastically New Orleans. There is no mistaking the sense of place, and anyone looking at a photo of the front room would put it here…or in Europe. But the rooms unfold as you walk through, and each is more interesting and surprising than the last. In the middle is a small courtyard with an outdoor stairway to an upper floor, used only by the staff and for private groups. There is plenty of seating in these four areas, though there is often a wait and a line outside.

There was indeed a little line outside the day I went for this $19.14 deal. I sat at the bar, wondering why I don’t elect to do this more often. The bar scene interests me. It’s not the patrons, but the bartenders that I find endlessly watchable. They are often great to engage, but I like watching them engage with others and make their drinks. At more modern bars, the show can be spectacular, with smoke and ridiculous Bloody Mary toppers, but this bar is heavy on the New Orleans classics, as it should be, and about the most exciting of those is the Ramos Gin Fizz. 

On this day I was especially charmed by the bartender, who exuded desirable bartender skills to a greater degree than most. When he asked me a question, I got the impression he was genuinely interested in the answer. 

It was a brutally hot day, and that front entry room was warm with the constant opening of the door. We chatted a bit about that. When co-workers came into the bar, their interactions were so caring that I was charmed by the camaraderie among the staff. Kudos to management.

As usual, I didn’t pay attention to exactly what I was going to The Napoleon House for. I just wanted to evaluate the deal. The three-course offer was a first course of an uninteresting salad with a Lemon Parmesan vinaigrette, a second course of half a muffuletta with a scoop of jambalaya, and bread pudding for dessert. The salad greens were chopped Romaine, with a few grape tomato halves scattered about. Meh.

For all the fanfare about the muffuletta here, I am underwhelmed. I have been savage to the bakery (also part of the group) that supplies the Ralph Brennan group of restaurants, but I occasionally run across some from there that I love. My problem with the muffuletta bread here is its softness. To me, all muffulettas in town are compared to the ones at Katie’s and Francesca’s, which in my view have no peer. The bread is the ideal muffuletta loaf, which should be dense with a serious crust, and should be slightly chewy in texture. This Napoleon House muffuletta is doughy. The meats inside are of excellent quality, which is what I would expect from this group, but the final product leaves me flat.

I like the jambalaya here, though it does have Creole elements to it. This jambalaya is not brown, as I think all great ones are. There is too much tomato here, but that doesn’t mean it's a red jambalaya. It’s just not brown enough for me. Neither of these classics represents the classics well enough to present them to tourists. 

I do like the red beans here, and the sausage platter with the house andouille, and I love the spinach dip and its unique preparation, so there is plenty to get and eat in this only-New Orleans venue. Everyone should visit the Napoleon House. Don’t wait as long as I did.

The bread pudding was the last taste of New Orleans, and it was very nice. I am not a bread pudding fan, and I would not say this is that glamorous, but it was tasty enough. Again, though, maybe not the best representation of what we do.

For $19.14, I would still recommend this as a “value”. But there is better food on this menu for both locals and visitors. I’ve had fun in my little tour of cheap eats around town. There are more for the next newsletter, but get out soon before the deals are done. You can decide for yourself if it’s worth it to you.