This week, we celebrate the life and delicious legacy of legendary restaurateur Ella Brennan. The Commander’s Palace matriarch was born in New Orleans on Nov. 27, 1925 — 100 years ago this week.
Although best known for her four decades at Commander’s Palace, her career began in Brennan’s, the French Quarter restaurant founded by her brother Owen. Among other innovations there, she developed the iconic dessert, bananas Foster, patterning the dish after one her mother made.
When Owen Brennan died suddenly in 1955, Ella found herself forging her own career, first at Brennan’s and, after a family split, at Commander’s Palace. Beginning there in the 1970s, she became nationally known for popularizing haute Creole cuisine and superior service while mentoring some of the biggest names in the food world: Commander’s Palace icons Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse, Frank Brigtsen, Jamie Shannon, Tory McPhail and current executive chef Meg Bickford…