An expatriate of New Orleans – and professional chef – who has lived in Los Angeles since her childhood, blogs about the journey from New Orleans to Los Angeles back to New Orleans, and points along the way.

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Chatting with Ti Adelaide Martin of the Brennan Family-from the Origins of Commander’s Palace to Mr.B’s Bistro

By on Jan 7, 2012, 11:34 am in History, Restaurants, Travel | 9 comments

Commander's Palace

Yesterday was King’s Day, the Feast of the Epiphany, and  in New Orleans, the official beginning of the Carnival season. Seems like a good time to start my long awaited series on my time there last summer.

So I begin-with a segment of the wonderful interview I had with Ti Adelaide Martin.  Before we headed to the Hotel Monteleone for the International Food Bloggers Conference NOLA at the end of last August, fellow food blogger (and cookbook author), Nancie McDermott and I, were privileged to sit down and enjoy lunch at Commander’s Palace with Ms. Martin, manager (along with her cousin Lally Brennan) of the venerable New Orleans restaurant, and daughter of Ms. Ella Brennan, matriarch of the famed restaurant family.

Ms. Ella, as she’s known, has been credited with making New Orleans an eating destination, and has launched the careers of many well known chefs. We touched on all sorts of topics from the history of NOLA restaurants, cocktails, the “crashing” (as Ti Adelaide put it) of Cajun and Creole cuisines, the meaning of hospitality in general, and what makes a great restaurant, in particular.

Today, I’m so happy to share the first post from that interview, in which we talk about the origins of Commander’s Palace, their flagship restaurant housed in a 19th century Garden District mansion, straight on to the beginnings of the modern restaurant history of New Orleans. Enjoy! and don’t forget to check back peridiocally for more from our talk, and my time in the city.

 

    9 Comments

  1. Giselle, I enjoyed this post & also the the one John Besh.

    Charlotte

    January 8, 2012

  2. Thank you for your thoughtfulness in sending this with all the other important things on your mind! – I have forwarded to Chef Paul.

    What a BEAUTIFUL video! And, what a beautiful history the Brennans have! It’s truly a keepsake piece and one to be proud of.

    Thanks so much for sending us a copy. – Sincerely, Margie

    Margaret Noonan Blaum

    January 31, 2012

  3. Dear Gisele,

    Using the moving stills to punch up an audio interview worked really well with what you did. Congrats to the production team.

    Andrew

    February 11, 2012

  4. Such a rich history with New Orleans food, and I love their building. Just gorgeous.

    Jane Boursaw

    February 18, 2012

  5. Thanks, Jane,

    It is a fabulous building, isn’t it? Can you imagine it being a private home???

    Gisele aka LA2LAChef

    February 18, 2012

  6. Hi there, I enjoy reading through your post. I wanted to write a little
    comment to support you.

    Ezequiel

    October 6, 2012

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