I guess it's a good thing when the owner of a restaurant is so successful that he starts another one. And another and another and another. Think about John Besh, who in the past year has been involved with the openings of at least six establishments--and who might have three more before Christmas. Think about Ralph Brennan. . . Yes, let's think about Ralph. His restaurant collection numbers eight. One of them--Brennan's on Royal Street--is one of the most important restaurants in New Orleans. Another of Ralph's places is his eponymous flagship, Ralph's on the Park. Or is it, now that Brennan's is in the catalog? And if it is, how has it been affected by the the internal competition for management attention? I hadn't been there lately when, having not yet dined, I drove in front of the place a few weeks ago. A switch popped open in my brain: this is the time of year when Ralph's OTP offers a summer special. For $33, they serve three appetizers and a glass of wine. Even disregarding the markdown price, this is one of the most appealing menus in New Orleans today. The list of possible plates and wines is broad enough to make it stand on its own, with the feeling of a wine dinner but without the formality. And they're flexible enough that adding another course or wine is as easy as it is delicious. So, whatever the competition among its sister restaurants, Ralph's on the Park is, if anything, better than its benchmark performance over the years.
Ralph's is historic and beautiful. Across the street is the oldest part of the park, with the biggest live oaks and an ancient bayou. In the past few years the food has equaled the environment. Chef Chip Flanagan creates the most distinctive food Ralph's has ever had, while remaining solidly in the contemporary Creole vein and employing locally-raised foodstuffs almost exclusively. Among the dozen Brennan restaurants, only Commander's and Brennan's are better.
More a bar than a restaurant for most of its history, the building can claim a continuous career of food and beverage service dating back to 1869. Its recent career as a major restaurant began in the early 1980s as Tavern on the Park. Ralph Brennan took over in 2001, and spent almost a year and millions of dollars to renovate the place. Ralph's on the Park was the luckiest restaurant in the Katrina disaster. Entirely surrounded by some of the deepest floodwaters, the restaurant's location on the Metairie Ridge limited its damage to one broken window.
The two dining rooms on the first floor are heavily windowed, the better to let the marvelous park view in. The whole place has an antique style. A mural depicting a historically-accurate 1800s faceoff between the high-end call girls of the time and the wives of their customers is amusing. The bar is the better dining room. It's smaller, quieter, and on some nights sports a piano player. The private dining rooms upstairs are sometimes used for a la carte service; they have balconies that take even greater advantage of the setting.
Ralph's seems always to be running a promotion, of which the three-appetizer-$33 summer special is typical. They also regularly stage special dinners at the other end of the price spectrum, too.
| Attitude | 2 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 2 |
| Hipness | 1 |
| Local Color | 3 |
| Service | 2 |
| Value | 1 |
| Wine | 1 |
