Dickie Brennan, 3rd Generation Restaurateur & New Orleans Culinary Ambassador

What’s in a name? In New Orleans, Brennan is synonymous with great southern hospitality. We’ve had the pleasure of featuring a few Brennan family members on The Connected Table Live, including the late, great Ella Brennan, her daughter, Ti Adelaide Martin, and cousin, Lally Brennan, all family proprietors of the legendary Commander’s Palace. We’ve featured Ralph Brennan whose restaurant include three French Quarter restaurants: Brennan’s on Royal Street, Redfish Grill and Napoleon House, and Ralph’s on the Park across from beautiful City Park.

So, it is about time we featured Dickie Brennan, a third-generation family restaurateur whose imprint covers much of New Orleans’s hospitality map. A trained chef, Brennan grew up just two blocks from Commander’s Palace under the tutelage of the restaurant’s esteemed Chef Paul Prud’homme. He also worked with Larry Forgione at American Place in New York City. In France he worked at six different kitchens to gain exposure and broaden his knowledge as a chef.

Brennan is a dedicated ambassador for New Orleans’ culinary heritage and hospitality. As Owner and Managing Partner of Dickie Brennan & Company, established in 1991, he oversees s stable of restaurants and catering operations that include Dickie Brennan’s Steakhouse, Bourbon House, and Tableau, all in the French Quarter, Pascal’s Manale and The Commissary Kitchen + Market in New Orleans’ Garden District, Acorn Café in the Louisiana Children’s Museum at City Park and Audubon Clubhouse by Dickie Brennan in Audubon Park.

Brennan is a cofounder with his cousin, Ti Adelaide Martin, of NOCHI (New Orleans Culinary & Hospitality Institute) which provides accredited cooking and restaurant management skills for aspiring chefs. On September 10 we attended Cooking for a Cause, a fundraiser for NOCHI, and toured the school to learn more about its training programs. www.nochi.org

In 2025 Brennan was awarded the 2025 Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement in Hospitality Award at The New Orleans Wine & Food Experience (NOWFE). David Colomb, NOWFE president said about this honor: “Dickie Brennan has dedicated his life to upholding the standards of Southern hospitality and made extraordinary contributions to our culinary culture and heritage. As Ella Brennan’s nephew, he has devoted himself to continuing the legacy of hospitality that she inspires in all of us.”

We had lunch with Brennan at Tableau to prepare for our episode with him on The Connected Table Live October 15. Despite a packed schedule, he was generous with his time and shared his love of cooking and entertaining, music and giving back to the community. He also shared an anecdote or two about growing up with over a dozen Brennan cousins, many working in the hospitality business. Somewhere in our packed New York files we have an old newspaper diagram of the Brennan’s family tree.

We are still eating around the city to revisit all of Dickie Brennan & Company’s restaurants. Our lunch at Tableau was a great representation of classic Creole cooking, thanks to Chef Ross Robertson: dark roux duck and andouille creole gumbo, shrimp remoulade salad, Gulf fish amandine topped with crabmeat and Tableau’s crème brûlée.

In 2023, Dickie Brennan & Company welcomed Pascal’s Manale into its family of restaurants. This beloved New Orleans dining spot on Napoleon Avenue has been serving Italian-Creole food since 1913. Brennan told us he plans to do necessary renovations to the restaurant – after all it is 112 years old! But the dishes that four generations of customers have loved, including the original Pascal’s Manale barbecue shrimp, will remain.

 

Watch our interview with Dickie Brennan on The Connected Table Live TV here:

Listen on iHeart Radio here: