Commander’s Palace new orleans, la
Commander’s Palace is one of the way of Haiti and at Commander’s most famous restaurants in the Palace is served in a silky gravy. world. The grace with which they With such a long timeline, the Of f t h e Me n u walked me through their seven dinstories are not of one narrative, ing rooms and the gardens made it they’re as varied as New Orleans Grillades and Grits seem almost choreographed. They itself. I hear about Ella’s parents are experts in sharing their story, as forbidding her to cycle past Pain Perdu they are interviewed almost every Commander’s Palace as a little (or French Toast) day. The building is an ode to New girl—long before her family owned Orleans’ Garden District, a place it—because there was a high-brow Suggested wine: that makes you sentimental for it, brothel in the upstairs rooms; and Plumpjack Winery even in its presence. about George Rico, who worked Cabernet Sauvignon 2008 Dottie Brennan is the matriat Commander’s Palace for forty arch of the family that has owned years and was in Guinness World the restaurant since the 1970s, the Records for receiving the largest latest in a legacy that is as old as New Orleans. Both known tip ever, of $40,000. I am told that the stuffed Commander’s Palace and Louisiana got their start in birds on the walls of the main dining room echo the the 1880s and the lore in these walls is as thick as Garden District tradition of having aviary wallpaper; smoke. Dottie’s sister Ella ran the restaurant until she and that locals used to will their jackets to the resdied. I’m having my staff meal at Ella’s table, which is taurant—which had a sport-coat dress code for the a small booth in the kitchen where Ella could oversee dining room—to supply any who arrived at dinner the operation and hold meetings or taste a sauce. Not without one. just anybody would get a seat at Ella’s table; though Each room feels like it exists now and also in as I charge through my serving of grillades and grits, some other time. It almost makes me feel like a wellI have to imagine the standards have loosened. The fed ghost, the past more corporeal than the present. grits remind you that cooking well is not about fine But things are still changing here; it is not a museum. dining. These grits are country food, but they are not After Katrina, the dress code was lightened so that any less complex for their heartiness. They are perfect. jackets were no longer required. It is a rare dignity that Grillades is fried pork that comes to New Orleans by remains constant, not the wallpaper.
x
top right :
Nancy Pham delivers the balloons that festoon the coatroom every day of the year. Chef Tory McPhail eats in the usual chef manner, standing up in the kitchen.
bottom :
74