In this culinary memoir, readers get a personal tour of the storied New Orleans restaurant with the woman who put it—and Creole cuisine—on the map. Meet Ella Brennan: mother, mentor, blunt-talking fireball, and matriarch of a New Orleans restaurant empire. Ella is famous for bringing national attention to Creole cuisine, and her unique vision is best summed up in her own words: "I don’t want a restaurant where a jazz band can’t come marching through." In this candid autobiography, Ella shares her life story from childhood in the Great Depression to opening acclaimed eateries. When the Brennans launched Commander’s Palace, it became the city’s most popular restaurant. Many of the city’s most famous chefs such as Paul Prudhomme, Emeril Lagasse, Troy McPhail, and many others, got their start there. Miss Ella of Commander’s Palace describes the drama, the disasters, and the abundance of love, sweat, and grit it takes to become the matriarch of New Orleans’ finest restaurant empire.

Home cooks can re-create their favorite recipes -- gumbos, barbecued shrimp, bread pudding -- from the legendary, much-loved Commander's Palace. Featuring 200 recipes from the restaurant's extensive offerings, Commander's Kitchen describes favorites in step-by-step detail. Two 8-page color inserts, 75 b&w photos.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 My mother, Nellie, was a great cook who never relied on recipes or precise measurements when she cooked. She just did it, and she did it well. Her ability to figure things out and cope with the challenges was the greatest gift she passed on to me. #2 My family was large, with six children. We rarely ate out because we didn’t have the money, and the restaurants couldn’t compete with what we had at home. My father was a supervisor of shipbuilding at Johnson Iron Works, and my mother was a housewife. #3 My mother and father parceled out their love and attention to all of us in equal measure so that we never felt neglected or favored over one another. Their meals were exciting, rich, and varied even though they were poor. #4 My mother, Nellie, would cook delicious meals for us every day. She would always talk about how important it was to eat your vegetables, and she would always have soups in the wintertime made with what she called the soup meat—whatever was left over.

Moving to America turns H&à's life inside out. For all the 10 years of her life, H&à has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, the warmth of her friends close by, and the beauty of her very own papaya tree. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. H&à and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, H&à discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food, the strange shape of its landscape, and the strength of her very own family. This is the moving story of one girl's year of change, dreams, grief, and healing as she journeys from one country to another, one life to the next.

Originally published: New Orleans: R.L. Crager, 1961.

Uglesich's Seafood Restaurant was a New Orleans institution founded in 1924. This anticipated compilation offers the family's personal home dishes as well as newly developed recipes from the business such as Hakon and Watcha Doin' Shrimp, along with explanations of how they were named or developed. Chapters include photographs of the last day that the restaurant was open and messages to the family after their home and business were damaged by Hurricane Katrina. These words of encouragement from friends and strangers across the country pay tribute to the family business and make this book a history and a legacy.

A twentieth century cookbook featuring the food, cooking techniques and culinary history of the Creole people in New Orleans. One of the world's most unusual and exciting cooking styles, New Orleans Creole cookery melds a fantastic array of influences: Spanish spices, tropical fruits from Africa, native Choctaw Indian gumbos, and most of all, a panoply of French styles, from the haute cuisine of Paris to the hearty fare of Provence. Assembled at the turn of the twentieth century by a Crescent City newspaper, The Picayune, this volume is the bible of many a Louisiana cook and a delight to gourmets everywhere. Hundreds of enticing recipes including fine soups and gumbos, seafoods, all manner of meats, rice dishes and jambalayas, cakes and pastries, fruit drinks, French breads, and many other delectable dishes. A wealth of introductory material explains the traditional French manner of preparing foods, and a practical selection of full menus features suggestions for both everyday and festive meals.