n , emo-.-...- a10 00 We're doing it again! Shaking things up! Some businesses have a conference room - we have a patio. (Maybe it's another reason our "work" doesn't feel like work.) And we use our patio for all manner of in-house meetings, seminars, wine tastings, and on and on. Throughout the day, before and after lunch and dinner, you'll see on the patio a smattering of meetings: cooks gathered around a table of dishes listening to Jamie talk about the right seasoning balance; two captains discussing their newest protege; and managers huddled in one-on-one sessions with their team members.

Food, of course, seeps its way into these meetings. Needing a little afternoon sustenance we find ourselves requesting certain types of food - food packing a flavorful punch to satisfy our greedy palates but nothing too heavy to weight us down before the dinner show. Maybe it's that desire to not be weighted down before dinner service - maybe it's just the types of food that have natural appeal when you're eating outdoors under the shade of our grand old oak tree with trickling water in the fountain as the background. How about a lusty but satisfying Chardonnay baked Lafourche redfish with garlic olive oil steamed spinach touched with green onions and jumbo lump crabmeat. A big lusty entree salad of crispy Golden Meadow softshell crab with local vine ripe tomatoes, sweet onions, cracked pepper, basil vinaigrette and touched with our own ravigote sauce...

Food that explodes deliciously. Dishes that satisfy both our hunger and our unabashed desire for flavor. Food that we can eat quickly - often a one course meal. Food that won't slow us down.

We realized we had none too consciously created a repertoire of food that fit our lifestyle. In a blinding flash of the obvious we saw that it will fit your lifestyle too. So we decided to give it a name and share it with you: Patio Food. So named because it's what we so often seem to want when we're on the patio. But - you 0 ' hay to b on the patie to eat it. It could be the What is all the fuss about? Food middle of January (and maybe 70 0 outside like this year) and you're in your favorite main dining room spot but your mind of course. Patio food is not a case of style over and appetite want steamed pulled ginger chicken salad with substance. It's food with its own verve and wit and charm. garlic pasta; or open faced smoked sliced sirloin sandwich It's food with a racy spirit like a symphony that begins loudly with onion marmalade and Creole new potato salad. Your and then slides into subtle. It's innovation in tradition. It's meal is good, very good, and fast. Better yet, you leave with different yet unmistakably Commander's. It's Patio Food. Ii some pep in your step.

• Adelaide Brennan's beloved patio is holding court once again!

Cigars and brandy in the patio after dinner with Alain Raynaud, the head of the Grand Crus Bordeaux Wine Makers Association. This charming French gentleman was kicked back and relaxing in his chair, cigar in one hand, brandy in the other. He kept looking up at the stars beyond the oak tree branches that seem to hug the restaurant and saying in his captivating French accent, "This is how I imagined ."

Two local ladies immersed in a long lunch over a holiday weekend - in the patio under one of the new oversized umbrellas. 40-ish, they behaved more like 16 year olds sharing gorgeously unrespectable stories and reveling in a few "found hours" to catch up and share a meal al fresco.

Dinner on the patio with dear friend and lawyer, Ted George, and his wife, Julie. Great food, wine and conversation on a beautiful night. Before we know it, it was past midnight and our voices rang out alone - the rest of the crowd gone. The patio holds magical memories for so many of you and us. We decided the old gal needed a face-lift - a real overhaul. But like good cosmetics/plastic surgery, you may never notice. We knew where she was sagging and drooping though so in came the bull­ dozer. We called the intermittent mess our "rock garden:' It looked like bombed out Beirut. All new plumbing and wiring, all new furniture, a new fountain, and new oversized umbrellas adding shade where the oak tree misses.

She's back! Adelaide Brennan's beloved patio is holding court once again! Thanks to Dottie and Lally Brennan, who restored and embellished a piece of Commander's storied past, the patio is bracing for a starring role in Commander's future. Ii Commander's named Best Value in New Orleans by FOOD & WINE COULD WE CHARGE HIGHER PRICES AT COMMANDER'S PALACE? YES. WILL WE? NO.

One night this fall, the brilliant, Nobel Prize winning economist, Milton Friedman and his wife were dining at E Commander's Palace with two charming Tulane professors. -- I was thrilled to have Mr. Friedman in the restaurant and he enjoyed hearing my stories of being taught at Tulane Business school by his son, David. We bantered about dinner and economics and they asked how business was. I said things were good and that we were very lucky. One professor commented, "At Commander's prices, I guess things are good." I found myself about to retort that in fact, Commander's Palace had just been named Best Value in New Orleans by Food & Wine magazine. Before I could even get the comment out, the economist, Mr. Friedman, surveyed the full dining room and said, 'Td say they've got the prices figured just right." Now I was really having fun!

It's so often that people lump together all fine dining as expensive. Compared to fast food, yes. Compared to other fine dining and the perceived value of an evening of warm, professional pampering service, a great meal and a gracious ambience - No!

We know we could charge more than we do - many others in New Orleans do - but we won't overcharge you just because we can. There is no victory in that for us. Times are good. The economy keeps rolling right along through corrections here and there. We could get away with it - but it's just not our style. We want to provide you a great experience - complete with all the costs that entails. We have layers of costs to provide you extra service that most other restaurants skimp on. We want to run the restaurant efficiently, allow for a fair profit and have that equation leave you knowing that Commander's Palace is a great value. We eat at restaurants all around the u.s. and New Orleans. We think that at Commander's Palace you get more for your money - it's that simple. Ii

- Ti Martin Ella Brennan (far left) and her sister Just as singer Ella Fitzgerald complements New Orleans' Dottie Brennan toast to the good times great Louis Armstrong, another legendary Ella jazzes up had by all at the award-winning the city's cuisine. And what beautiful music-for-the-palate Commander's Palace restaurant in New Orleans. Ella Brennan conducts at her Commander's Palace, source of all things wonderful to eat in the Big Easy.

The restaurant's signature Creole dishes (the spicy Turtle Soup, the saucy Bread Pudding Souffle) are beloved rites of passage. For that, millions are thankful.

((This business is in my blood," says this 70-ish doyenne of New Orleans dining, who's commanded the landmark teal-and-white Garden District restaurant for more than 20 years. ((My family and I don't know any other way."

The Brennan family is synonymous with fabulous dining in the City That Never Stops Eating. That's thanks in large part to Ella, the restaurant team's most visible and vocal coach. Her eye for talent has fostered such celebrity chefs as , , current sensation Jamie Shannon, and two dozen other culinary stars who have passed through Commander's kitchen.

Reprinted from Southern Living Magazine February 1999 From left: Brad Brennan, Ti Martin, Ralph Brennan, Dickie Brennan, and Lauren Brennan Brower.

They were born and raised in New Orleans, schooled at the legendary Commander's Palace, and have taken the Brennan restaurant family into new venues and locations.

«We're turning some new pages, but not writing a new book;' Alex Brennan-Martin says Alex Brennan-Martin. «We're doing exciting things, but hopefully, we're not going to do too much differently than our parents. They didn't open many restaurants, but they didn't close many either." Orleans restaurant scene: «The family has now organized As 1999 begins, the offspring of Ella Brennan, her sister, Dottie, itself to give each one a chance to use the entrepreneurial and brothers, Dick and John, who died last August, continue to spirit that runs so strongly in the Brennan family." make foodservice news in the Big Easy and beyond. According to Funk, "New Orleans is one of the last Says Jim Funk, executive vice president of the bastions of independent restaurants, and people like Restaurant Association and a longtime observer of the New the Brennans are helping to continue that."

• Ella Brennan's son, Alex steakhouse. He remains a • John Brennan's son, operates Brennan's partner in Mr. B's Bistro. His Ralph, operates Bacco, r----__------,t::IoustoD.J:!e daughter, Ti, sister, Lauren, is a partner Redfish Grill, and Storyville works out of Com mander's with Dickie at Palace Cafe District, and is a partner in Palace but is heading up and the steakhouse. Mr. B's Bistro. His sister, Here's how the the new Foodies Kitchen Cindy Brennan, runs Mr. B's extended Brennan family project. • Dottie Brennan's son, Bistro. Another sister, Lally Bradford, is located at Brennan, works at lines up today: • Dick Brennan's son, Commander's Palace but Commander's Palace, Dickie, is a partner in Palace soon will move to Las Vegas handling everything from a..-______~ afe an tb r£ce ntly and open Commander's advertising and customer opened Dickie Brennan's Palace in the Alladin Hotel. relations to special events.

Reprinted from Nation's Restaurant News January 1999 They can mix it up with nearly anyone, from glib politicians to shy children. And they've made Creole food an all-american staple. MEETTHE BRENNAN WOMEN OF NEW ORLEANS.

By Mimi Read Gumbo It's a bustling saturday night at Commander's Palace in New Orleans. The lights are low; the silver gleams; the staff looks crisp in over-starched white shirts. With cardsharp precision, a waiter deals out appetizers to a merry band of locals. When a quiet couple walks in, the maitre d' escorts them to a table. They are by no means regulars here, but as they're sitting down, Ella Brennan - the genial matriarch of the family that owns the restaurant - appears out of no:vhere. a turreted, gingerbread Victorian mansion across the street Though she is dressed to the nines, her chief accessory IS a from an historic cemetery, Commander's is always packed huge smile, as open and winning as a child's. ''I'd heard you with well-heeled tourists and members of the city's gentry. were coming! How are you?" she exclaims. Under luminous panels delicately painted with Louisiana wading birds, diners feast on turtle soup; shrimp with tasso Hospitality is New Orleans' and five-pepper jelly; roasted quail with a port glaze; and gift to the world, and the fluffy Creole bread pudding with creme anglaise. Brennan family embodies it like no other. As the owners of The Brennans not only entertain celebrities; they have many successful restaurants in become celebrities, at least in New Orleans. Larger than life New Orleans and Houston, and close-knit in the extreme, they know everyone and they were some of the first to everyone knows them. The family has a long hist~ry in the, package the elusive Creole mys­ city, but less than two generations of real prospenty. There s tique and propel it into the still a touch of democratic earthiness in their charm. American mainstream. Their cache of restaurants - which These days the older generation, who are in their fifties, includes Commander's Palace, sixties and seventies, are winding down - or trying to. Mr. B's Bistro, Bacco, Palace Ella, her brother Dick and sister Dottie have been striving Cafe and Ralph Brennan's Red together in the restaurants since 1946 (their other siblings, Fish Grill in New Orleans, as Owen, Adelaide and John, are deceased). A few years ago well as Brennan's in Houston­ these elders passed the torch to their children, and though have given traditional Creole the older Brennans still show up at the restaurants almost dishes a fresh, sophisticated spin, every day, the generation coming of age is now in the hot catapulting them into the realm of seat, working hard to keep the service graceful and the food haute cuisine. At all of the au courant. Brennan establishments, service and graciousness without pom­ posity are cultivated as lost arts. While the Brennan men are certainly involved in running the family's restaurants, it's the women who infu~e each Commander's Palace, the family's flagship, has for years racked establishment with flair, dash and depth. DynamiC and up coveted national awards, including the James B~ard fascinating, they are the original "steel magnolias" - Foundation's 1996 pick as best restaurant III Amenca - the canny, proficient, no-nonsense businesswomen who food industry's equivalent of an Academy Award. Housed in also prize sensitivity to human concerns.

Reprinted from More Magazine January 1999 When: OPENING SUMMER 1999

Where: Next to Dorignac's - 720 Veterans Boulevard

What: A Meals Market

If the French Market in its heyday were enclosed and combined with a modern Solari's - that's Foodies Kitchen. We call it A Meals everyday. A fresh meal, fast or to go. Ready to heat or ready to eat, Market. It's a whole new way to shop for meals - it's a third way. without the wait and without the waiter. You have restaurants and groceries, now you have A Meals Market. When you shop our produce cooler there will be a lot of things It's a very fresh, very fast answer to missing - anything that's not fresh! In other words, when oranges the question «What's for dinner?" aren't good we won't have them, when blueberries aren't fresh we (or lunch or breakfast). In some won't have them. What we will have will be seasonal and fresh. And ways it's a return to your friendly we'll have everything you'll need for a great meal including a bottle neighborhood market where you of wine, some flowers, and a real on-site bakery cranking out a vast know the chef and the butcher. array of artisan breads, the likes of which New Orleans has never seen. Solari's was a food market before stores had to start carrying paper There will be an abundance of food and a very interactive atmosphere. goods, shampoo, batteries, and In many ways it will be just like it's always been at Commander's hair dryers. Foodies will have none with customers going through the kitchen - they love it - we love it. of that. It leaves us able to concen­ You will be surrounded by food and cooking. It's one big kitchen trate on one thing - Food. with a wonderful market and a full-scale bakery.

Food. Meals. This is what we We hope to add another dimension to the New Orleans food scene. know. We're not grocers, we're We want to add to the landscape of great grocers like our next door restaurateurs. That's what we do - cook meals for you. We don't neighbor, Dorignac's, and to complement the superb deli and wine know much about stacking shelves with detergent but we do make a offerings of Martin Wine Cellar. In many ways it has not been any mean buttermilk pecan rotisserie chicken, serious crab cakes, and a one restaurant in town that put New Orleans on the culinary map; four-cheese macaroni that takes carryout to a whole new level. but, instead a group of dedicated restaurateurs and chefs pushing each other to do better over the last 100+ years. We know New Orleans has always had great cooks - still Foodies Kitchen, staffed with a team of talented Commander's does. So, the bar has always alumnae, wants to be part of a long and growing tradition of making New Orleans the greatest food town in America. "We've wanted been higher in New Orleans. to do this for You can't go to Commander's 10 years, Ti every night, you want to eat at See you this summer! JI Martin points home - AND you're not out. "In 1996 willing to sacrifice quality. when people for the first time started You think you deserve better getting more prepared meals away than fast food - so do we! from home, we said, OK, they're finally That's where Foodies comes voting with their feet, and we started in. We're on a mission to looking for a location." improve all those other non­ Foodies Kitchen will be CIa very funky restaurant meals, even the and distinctly New Orleans-feeling ones eaten in a huge rush. place." - As seen In Nation's Restaurant You stop by and choose from News January 1999 over 100 different options

U.S. POSTAGE PAID BULK RATE Permit No. 1265 New Orleans,LA

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