Brennan's

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Brennan's is a creole restaurant on Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is known for its lavish breakfast and for the creation of Bananas Foster.

[edit] History

Brennan's was founded in 1946 by Owen Brennan, an Irish-American restaurateur and New Orleans native. It was originally located on Bourbon Street across from the Old Absinthe House, but moved to its present location at 417 Royal Street in 1956. The building, a two-story French Quarter mansion constructed in 1795, was at that time owned by Tulane University and leased by Brennan's initially. From 1841-1891, the mansion had been owned by the Morphy family, with Paul Morphy, the celebrated chessplayer and unofficial world chess champion, living there until his death in 1884. The restaurant purchased the building in 1984.^[1]

Because Owen Brennan died before his parents, the restaurant was eventually inherited by his siblings as well as his children. Disagreement within the Brennan family over the expansion of the restaurant line led to a split into several different corporations controlling a number of New Orleans restaurants.

Although most of Royal Street was spared significant flooding after Hurricane Katrina, Brennan's suffered severe damage, largely due to the contents of second-story refrigerators melting and seeping onto lower floors. The restaurant's extensive wine cellar lost temperature control, ruining the entire wine collection.

After an extensive renovation, Brennan's re-opened on June 8, 2006.