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

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 to 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.

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 the section of Royal Street in the French Quarter was spared the flooding suffered by most of the city in the levee failures during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Brennan's did suffer significant 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.

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

Houston, Texas location

Up until 2008, there was a Brennan's restaurant at 3300 Smith Street in midtown Houston, owned by Alex Brennan-Martin. After more than 40 years in business, Brennan's of Houston caught fire in the hours prior to the arrival of Hurricane Ike, completely destroying it. Investigators point to the possibly of an exploding transformer as the cause of the blaze.

Cultural references

Brennan's was featured in a season two episode of Ghost Hunters where the TAPS team investigated claims of paranormal activity.

References

External links

• Official Site (New Orleans location)
• Official Site (Houston Location) (historical)