I was just thinking of Richard Saja’s embroidered toile, and he has some new work from this summer up on his site. I never mind waiting in the foyer at Commander’s Palace as we check in for our reservation because it gives me a great chance to see things in his work there that I haven’t noticed before.
(this pic from an earlier visit:)
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These little bites of bread are so good — butter/garlic/dill spread upon french (I imagine this is just poboy) bread they just shatter when they’re bitten into. There’s something about it that seems a little silly, but it’s fun. And yummy.
And then there’s the *real* bread, served perfectly warm
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In this post, I’m consolidating the dishes from a couple of different lunches we enjoyd, but one of us always gets the turtle soup that they note on the menu takes three days to make. It’s finished table-side with sherry
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Louisiana seafood boil tamale: spicy poached redfish, shrimp and oysters, grilled corn tamale, crab boiled vegetables, tomato chili coulis and roasted poblano-cilantro cream
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Crispy Des Allemands Catfish: wild catfish filets with warm crab boil potato salad, Creole mustard-dressed cabbage and mirlitons with pickled okra aioli and NOLA BBQ vinaigrette
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Barbecued Gulf shrimp and grits
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Creole Bread Pudding Souffle, created by Paul Prudhomme when he was chef here in 1980, looking for a special dessert to celebrate Commander’s 100th birthday
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pecan pie a la mode
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Ha! They surprised us with a couple of things, and one was this sundae!
On one visit, they made Shug a foil snail — how great is this!?!
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The documentary about Ella Brennan, Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table, was released in October. About her, the doc’s site reads:
Ella Brennan is a household name in the restaurant industry. Known today as the inspirational matriarch of the rambling Brennan family of New Orleans and the force of nature behind first Brennan’s and then Commander’s Palace. Fired by her family at one point, she shouldered on. She was the creator of elaborate New Orleans breakfasts and jazz brunches and revolutionized creole cuisine. A pioneer of the modern American food movement, she pushed her chefs to the forefront helping to launch the celebrity chef phenomenon.
https://player.vimeo.com/video/175593627?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0
Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table Trailer
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Just because: foil squirrel takeout at a restaurant in Portland