In 1979, the Brennans revolutionized the the New Orleans dining scene around by opening Mr. B'sthis, the archetype of the casual, contemporary Creole bistro. Now restaurants like Mr. B's dominate the scene. Its kitchen creates innovative and excellent Creole dishes from top-rung fresh ingredients, but serves them in an easy, informal way. Hickory-grilled fish, now common, was pioneered here; so was pasta as a non-Italian main course. Although a scan of the menu suggests that red meats are the main specialty, the seafood dishes are almost without exception the best versions anywhere of numerous contemporary Creole classic dishes.
Mr. B's is the archetype of the gourmet Creole bistro as we know it. If food is almost everything to you in a restaurant, this is the place for you. It's a comfortable, conveniently situated meeting place; even the parking is easy and cheap. The menu offers definitive versions of many essential New Orleans dishes: chicken-andouille gumbo, barbecue shrimp, wood-grilled fish, crab cakes, and bread pudding. The rest of the menu is filled with top-notch contemporary Creole cooking. The place always seems as if it will detonate into a party any minute.
After closing restaurants for years following the 1973 family split, the Commander's Palace side of the Brennan family opened Mr. B's in 1979. It was the perfect restaurant for the time: the Baby Boom generation wanted good New Orleans food, but didn't like the pomp of the grand restaurants. Mr. B's became the most widely-copied restaurant in town, serving as the prototype for dozens of gourmet Creole bistros. It launched the restaurant careers of siblings Ralph, Cindy and Lally Brennan, who with their cousins now run the empire. Cindy Brennan Davis is the managing partner of Mr. B's now. Deep backstory: for most of the 1900s, this was the famous Solari's Italian food emporium, the center of what was once the New Orleans gourmet district.
The wide, long, dark-wood-paneled dining room always has a buzz. Full of local people (especially at lunch), the restaurant offers the opportunity to run into friends without trying. Live piano at night adds to the liveliness. It's one big, somewhat dark, moderately noisy room with a semi-open kitchen. It's so engaging a scene that the place is usually filled up to the bar, where you might well wait for a table. (The reservation system leaves lots of space for walk-ins.) The service staff and the wine list are both better than they need to be.
Mr. B's has a strange reservation system. They accept reservations for a limited number of tables, but for most of them it's first-come, first served. Be sure when you call that you tell them you're local, and don't ask for 7:30 or 8 p.m. reservations unless they know you well.
| Attitude | 2 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 2 |
| Local Color | 2 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 0 |
| Wine | 2 |
