Wednesday, January 13, 2016.
The Third-Oldest Restaurant Revisited.
Brian Berrigan, who is on the board of the local chapter of the Alzheimer's association (alz.org), asked me some months ago whether I'd like to help pull together a panel of chefs and others who have written about food. The panel will be the entertainment for a big luncheon on May 19 to raise funds for the scary disease. He and I had a dinner meeting about this a couple of months ago. To day he wanted to update me (and vice versa) on the progress with another dinner. Of course, and it's my turn to pay, anyway.
And I'm going to a dinner party tomorrow at Café Adelaide, put on by owners Lally Brennan and Ti Martin. I will ask them whether they can attend the Alzheimer's fundraiser. Commander's chef Tory McPhail had a hand in writing the current Commander's cookbook. And Ti and Lally co-wrote a book about cocktails. And Ti just finished writing a biography of her mother, Ella Brennan--surely one of the most interesting people in the annals of American restaurants.
Brian is delighted with my suggestion of the Bon Ton for our dinner spot. I have already made my annual winter visit to the Bon Ton, but I like it enough to return this soon.
[caption id="attachment_19927" align="alignnone" width="400"]
Fried catfish and crawfish, the amuse-bouche at the Bon Ton Cafe.[/caption]
The Bon Ton is certified as the third-oldest restaurant in New Orleans, now that Commander's Palace has discovered that it didn't open in 1880 as they've long claimed, but in 1893. The Bon Ton can point to a newspaper ad it ran in the 1880s.
This got me to thinking during my shower today that some restaurants change over time time more than others. Here is a list of the dozen oldest New Orleans restaurants, ranked in order of age from the oldest to the least old. The number before the restaurant's name shows where each restaurant would rank in a list of how much the place has changed in its history, according to me. Those rankings range from 1 (least changed) to 10 (most changed)
[title type="h5"]6. Antoine's
8. Tujague's
7. Bon Ton
12. Commander's Palace
11. Delmonico
5. Galatoire's
2. Acme Oyster House
3. Pascal's Manale
1. Casamento's
10. Arnaud's
9. Broussard's
4. Charlie's Steak House
[/title]
Discuss among yourselves, then call the radio show (504-260-6368, weekdays between 3 and 6 p.m.) or send me an email with your comments.
Some of these rankings are contingent upon how far you go back. The Bon Ton, for example, has hardly changed at all since the 1970s, when it moved across the street. But twice in its history it changed hands and locations (although always in the same block of Magazine Street.
Antoine's changed a great deal in the late 1800s and early 1900s, thanks to the dynamism of Antoine's son Jules Alciatore. But from the 1930s through Katrina, Antoine's seemed to have locked up in ice, and was one of the least-changing restaurants in town. The current boss, Rick Blount, made up for most of that sitting still with more new dishes and promotions than anyone can remember at Antoine's.
Many of its customers remember the decades of changelessness at Galatoire's, but the past fifteen years have seen significant redirections.
These reflections are the stuff of a good lunchtime conversation. A lot more fun than talking about the stock market over lunch.
This night at the Bon Ton, specked trout is available. Both of us order it, with meuniere for me and a crawfish cream sauce for Brian. It's a much better dinner than the one I had last month. But here's a note of trendiness: cauliflower is one of the available sides. We spent a whole radio show earlier in the week tiding new uses for the vegetable.
Fried catfish and crawfish, the amuse-bouche at the Bon Ton Cafe.[/caption]
The Bon Ton is certified as the third-oldest restaurant in New Orleans, now that Commander's Palace has discovered that it didn't open in 1880 as they've long claimed, but in 1893. The Bon Ton can point to a newspaper ad it ran in the 1880s.
This got me to thinking during my shower today that some restaurants change over time time more than others. Here is a list of the dozen oldest New Orleans restaurants, ranked in order of age from the oldest to the least old. The number before the restaurant's name shows where each restaurant would rank in a list of how much the place has changed in its history, according to me. Those rankings range from 1 (least changed) to 10 (most changed)
[title type="h5"]6. Antoine's
8. Tujague's
7. Bon Ton
12. Commander's Palace
11. Delmonico
5. Galatoire's
2. Acme Oyster House
3. Pascal's Manale
1. Casamento's
10. Arnaud's
9. Broussard's
4. Charlie's Steak House
[/title]
Discuss among yourselves, then call the radio show (504-260-6368, weekdays between 3 and 6 p.m.) or send me an email with your comments.
Some of these rankings are contingent upon how far you go back. The Bon Ton, for example, has hardly changed at all since the 1970s, when it moved across the street. But twice in its history it changed hands and locations (although always in the same block of Magazine Street.
Antoine's changed a great deal in the late 1800s and early 1900s, thanks to the dynamism of Antoine's son Jules Alciatore. But from the 1930s through Katrina, Antoine's seemed to have locked up in ice, and was one of the least-changing restaurants in town. The current boss, Rick Blount, made up for most of that sitting still with more new dishes and promotions than anyone can remember at Antoine's.
Many of its customers remember the decades of changelessness at Galatoire's, but the past fifteen years have seen significant redirections.
These reflections are the stuff of a good lunchtime conversation. A lot more fun than talking about the stock market over lunch.
This night at the Bon Ton, specked trout is available. Both of us order it, with meuniere for me and a crawfish cream sauce for Brian. It's a much better dinner than the one I had last month. But here's a note of trendiness: cauliflower is one of the available sides. We spent a whole radio show earlier in the week tiding new uses for the vegetable.
