Beloved New Orleans Chef Frank Brigtsen is widely recognized for revitalizing Creole Acadian cooking. This year his namesake restaurant, Brigtsen’s, marks 40 years since its opening in 1986. Located in a charming Victorian cottage at 723 Dante Street in the Uptown Riverbend neighborhood, Brigsten’s draws a loyal clientele of regulars, as we saw firsthand this past Friday when we dined there for an early dinner. Just sixty seats with tables set in intimate parlor rooms, the experience feels like dining inside a private home. Customers know the servers by name and vice-versa. This is one of the more charming aspects of long-lived New Orleans restaurants like Brigsten’s.
Brigtsen’s also enjoys being a little “old school” and still only takes reservations by phone. In this impersonal age of online reservation apps, it is refreshing to hear a voice pick up when you call to make a reservation. The person answering the phone is often Marna Brigsten, Frank’s wife and business partner, or one of her sisters. Dinners are served Tuesdays through Saturdays starting at 5 p.m.
Frank and Marna Brigtsen in front of their restaurant
Menu standouts at Brigsten’s include filé gumbo, shrimp bisque, New Orleans BBQ shrimp with a creole rice fritter, broiled Gulf fish with crab crust and lemon crab sauce, roast duck with orange pepper glaze and dirty rice, and pan-roasted pork chop with andouille sweet potato hash. Pecan pie and rum raisin bread pudding are perennial hit desserts. Then there are the popular seasonal specialties like Creole tomato salad and Ponchatoula strawberry cake.
BBQ shrimp with a Creole rice fritter at Brigtsen’s
Pecan pie with caramel sauce at Brigtsen’s
Education and mentoring are important to Brigtsen whose own mentor was the late Paul Prud’homme. Brigsten worked with Prud’homme for seven years at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter and, prior, at Commander’s Palace. It was Prud’homme who encouraged Brigtsen to open a restaurant, lending him money and arranging for a C.P.A. and lawyer to help the business get started. Brigsten’s has been honored many times, and there are awards on display at the restaurant. But the image that is probably most dear to Frank and Marna is a black and white photo taken with Paul Prud’homme in front of Brigsten’s when it opened in 1986.
Nowadays, Brigtsen continues to pay it forward through education. For the last 25 years he has taught Culinary Arts at New Orleans Center for Creative Arts (NOCCA), a state-owned high school for the arts. He has also taught at The John Folse Culinary Institute and New Orleans Cooking Experience. Brigsten currently serves on the Host Committee for the prestigious Bocuse d’Or Americas culinary competition which returns to New Orleans for the second time July 25-26.
This Summer (2026) Brigtsen is releasing a new cookbook entitled “Frank Brigsten’s Color of Flavor” in partnership with Blue Runner Beans. The book’s 376 pages contain Brigtsen’s reflections on his career, recipes and, of course, delectable photos.
Frank Brigsten Photo credit: M Noel
Frank Brigtsen joined us on The Connected Table LIVE! this week to talk about his 40-year milestone in business, his new book, and the joy of mentoring.
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