Ella Brennan

Ella Brennan (November 27, 1925 – May 31, 2018) was an American restaurateur and part of a family of restaurateurs specializing in haute Louisiana Creole cuisine in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Early life and education

Brennan was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 27, 1925. She worked for her brother Owen Brennan at a restaurant in the French Quarter of New Orleans, and studied restaurant service in Europe and New York where she worked at the 21 Club.[1]

Career

Her brother Owen owned the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street and Ella Brennan worked there as a teenager. He also opened the Vieux Carré Restaurant on Bourbon Street. Plans to move the restaurant to Royal Street were interrupted when Owen suddenly died and banks pulled out of the venture. Acquiring her own backing, Ella did open the new restaurant in 1956, the first Brennan's Restaurant. This tactic was very successful and Ella worked behind the scenes as well as out front to insure the quality of the dishes. A family dispute dislodged her from the restaurant completely, and she countered by opening her own restaurant uptown. Commander's Palace became one of the culinary destinations of the South, if not the entire nation.[2] At Commander's Palace she worked with Paul Prudhomme, beginning in 1975, and Emeril Lagasse from 1983.[1]

Death and legacy

She died on May 31, 2018, at the age of 92.

She was the subject of a 2017 documentary, Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table.[3]

Awards

In 2009 she received the James Beard Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award.[4] In 2002 she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Southern Foodways Alliance.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Simmons, Scott R. (2007). "Brennan, Ella". In Edge, John T. (volume ed.); Wilson, Charles Reagan (series ed.). The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. 7: Foodways. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 129–130. ISBN 978-0-8078-3146-5. JSTOR 10.5149/9781469616520_edge.46. Text via the Southern Foodways Alliance.
  2. ↑ Brennan, Ella and Ti Martin, Miss Ella of Commander's Palace, 2016.
  3. ↑ Food & Wine
  4. ↑ Anderson, Brett (May 5, 2015). "James Beard Award winning restaurants in New Orleans". The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on 2015-07-15.

Further reading

  • Brennan, Ella; Martin, Ti Adelaide (2016). Miss Ella of Commander's Palace: "I don't want a restaurant where a jazz band can't come marching through". Layton, Utah: Gibbs Smith. ISBN 978-1-4236-4255-8.
  • Mullener, Elizabeth (October 7, 2007). "The Queen of Cuisine: Ella Brennan regarded as one of most revolutionary restaurateurs in world". The Times-Picayune. Archived from the original on 2015-10-25.
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