Brennan Ella - Miss Ella of Commanders Palace

Miss Ella
of
Commanders Palace

I dont want a restaurant where a jazz band cant come marching through

Ella Brennan & Ti Adelaide Martin

Miss Ella of Commanders Palace

I dont want a restaurant where a jazz band cant come marching through

Digital Edition 1.0

Text 2016 Adelaide W. Martin

Illustrations by our friend Tim Trapolin

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except brief portions quoted for purpose of review.

Gibbs Smith

P.O. Box 667

Layton, Utah 84041

Orders: 1.800.835.4993

www.gibbs-smith.com

ISBN: 978-1-4236-4256-5

by Cokie Roberts

Happily for me, Ive known Ella Brennan all my life. (If Im off by a year or two, meaning my parents probably didnt bring me to Breakfast at Brennans until I was a toddler, theres no one around whos going to correct me.) Ive known her to be a smart, funny, generous person whos wonderfully entertaining to be around and is a great contributor to the city she loves. And I always knew, despite appearances to the contrary, that she worked unbelievably hard to make her restaurants as fabulous as they are. But I didnt know, until I read this book, what an assiduous student Ella has been of the world of food and wine, and what a phenomenal teacher shes become in the world of business. No one should think about opening a restaurant without first reading this book.

This is, in essence, a history of fine dining in America, written by one of the people universally recognized in the world of restaurateurs who brought about the revolution that taught many in this country what good food and service is all about. Its fair to say that Ella Brennan changed the way Americans relate to food as much as Julia Child did. They were (fortunately Ella still is) women who understood that people just needed to know how delicious food could be, and in Ellas case, how perfect a dining-out experience could be, and how it could change their lives. Ella has run restaurants that have won every award the industry can confer, but more important, she has genuinely enjoyed doing it and made it enjoyable for all of us who are lucky enough to partake of her hospitality. Im always mesmerized when I have the chance to listen to Ella, especially when I can convince her to talk about the family or tell funny incidents like how Bananas Foster came to be, and thankfully her voice comes through loud and clear in this book. As I read her words, I can hear her speaking them, and I sit here with a smile as her impossible-not-to-share laugh tickles my imagination. Great characters from politics and show business and the arts have come through her restaurants and come through these pages, not to mention the chefs that Ella recruited and nurtured until they became household names. She writes about her months-long interviewing of Emeril Lagasse, a story I have heard from him as well, until she felt ready to bring the young man from Massachusetts to the demanding diners of New Orleans, where he famously succeeded under Ellas careful guidance.

That guidance and care extends to every person who works with Ella Brennan, contributing mightily, along with the to-die-for food, to the atmosphere that makes Commanders Palace and other Brennan restaurants places you want to return to again and again. And having learned from the mastermistress?the next generation of the family continues to give personal attention to employee and patron alike. I didnt know until I read this book that theres a restaurant rule: BOD, or Brennan on Duty, meaning theres always a family member there making sure all is as it should be. I might not have known the rule, but I certainly experienced it over these many decades, including during the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston, when Ella relocated there for the duration to make sure that Brennans outpost, run by her son Alex, lived up to the name. (A died-in-the-wool Democrat, Ella put the business first but was awfully happy when we journalists took our tables among the conventioneers.) One personally rewarding benefit of the BOD rule: it allowed me to meet and then get to know Ellas remarkable daughter Ti Adelaide Martin, now a true friend.

And thats as it should be, because my mother, Lindy Boggs, counted Ella Brennan as one of the most important people in her life. Mamma and Ella had a grand time together, and it was special for me when I supped alongside them, soaking in their stories, lapping up their laughter and wondering at their wisdom. In these pages, youll find much of that wisdom and many of those stories. I suspect youll share the laughter as well. If not, you dont deserve to join us in the Saloon in the Sky, but I personally have great hopes of ending up there with Ella and everyone she loves.