Last summer, I was so excited to see the renovation of Brennan’s.
Truth is, I was as excited to see the renovation as I was to sit down to have a meal. Av on the other hand…in fact, if anyone had asked Av what one of the best eating days of his life would be, he’d likely bring up the day we had brunch at Brennan’s and supper at Doe’s ten years ago. But that’s been a while, and there’s a new chef here (Slade Rushing). Is it all wonderful again? Is it better than before? And just, really what I want to see: is it pretty?
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Vieux Carré room
Well, yes. Yes to all of it. We were seated in the trellis room
Breakfast. I think this was a special — daube. Deep and dark and, well, meaty. So Av was happy.
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None of the ‘large’ selections really appealed to me this day, so I had an appetizer for my main: egg yolk carpaccio — grilled shrimp, crispy sweet potato, andouille vinaigrette
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He’s happy.
And since we kept things pretty small, we had room to share the praline Leidenheimer bread pudding with rye whiskey anglaise, chantilly cream
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Nice.
Our view
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and the famous turtles
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We were invited to go up the steps and view all the changes they’ve made
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The King’s room
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Pineapple room
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The Queen’s room
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Morphy room
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Love it all.
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Hate to think that Ted Brennan, who owned Brennan’s for so many years, passed away last week. It was in 2013 when the restaurant/business went through a big reorganization (sold via bankruptcy court with lots and lots of drama) and resulted in Ted being ‘out’ and cousin Ralph Brennan buying it and doing this massive renovation.
We were looking forward to dining at the new Ted Brennan’s Decatur this summer, but its opening has been pushed back again, now to sometime in the fall. I’ve walked past where they’re building it several times, and if it’s open before, say, December, it will be a surprise. Sure it will be gorgeous, though, and longtime (old) Brennan’s chef Lazone Randolph will again be in the kitchen. We’ll be there.