Beauty in the Beef
DICKIE BRENNAN'S steaks its claim to the family legacy.
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The Brennan family dynasty gets beefed up: co-owner Lauren Brennan Brower, chef
James Leeming, Dickie Brennan Sr. (standing) and co-owners Dickie Brennan Jr.
(seated) and Steve Pettus (standing).
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WHAT: Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse
CUISINE: American/contemporary Creole
WHEN: Lunch weekdays, dinner nightly
WHERE:716 Iberville St., 522-2467
CARDS: Major
My best advice about how to plan a meal at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse is to
show up hungry. It also helps if you are dressed for the business crowd. This
is a great power-lunch spot and a magnet for people-watchers. Hand-crafted,
dark mahogany wood, tile floors, a sunken dining room and soft lighting
complement the posh men's club atmosphere. Whimsical iron shields by New
Orleans artist Luis Colmenares and giant wine bottles enhance the steakhouse
aura.
Although the tables are well-spaced, I prefer the large,
semicircular booths, which add to the high degree of comfort. In the bar,
you'll find swords, pistols, hundreds of miniature liquor bottles (which came
from Dick Brennan Sr.'s attic) and a humidor. Cigars, polo shirts, knives and
chef jackets are for sale in an adjacent retail shop.
The concept of the restaurant was born nearly 50 years ago by the
older generation of Brennan restaurateurs, but this is Dickie Brennan Jr.'s
baby. (He has partnered with Steve Pettus, a 20-year veteran restaurateur, and
his sister, Lauren Brennan Brower, who also is his partner in Palace Cafe.)
Clearly, Dickie's passion for culinary excellence can be detected everywhere,
from the five luscious sauces offered with each steak (including Brennan's own,
spicy cane-syrup sauce) to the lack of sizzling butter on steak plates (a la
Ruth's Chris). A former chef who studied and apprenticed in Paris and currently
is vice president of the executive board of the Louisiana Restaurant
Association, Dickie knows his stuff. He decided to wet-age (instead of dry-age)
the beef and has gone to great lengths to perfect the beloved strip steak.
"The true measure of a steakhouse is the strip," he explains. "It's
a heck of a commitment on our part to make sure this is the best strip you'll
ever have." The formidable strip steak is the most succulent version I have
ever sampled, fragrant with pan juices, a little crisp around the edges and
bursting with the true flavor of wet-aged prime. Dip it into the rich bearnaise
sauce or the bourbon pepper sauce laced with cream and you are on your way to
steak heaven.
The strip is blackened in a cast-iron skillet and is so good that
you'll want to run into the kitchen and hug the cook. That deserving
man is executive chef James Leeming, a 13-year veteran of Commander's Palace
who previously worked with Frank Brigtsen at Brigtsen's. His team includes
talented sous chef Chris Barbados and Tucker Fitz-Hugh. Hugh is an
established visual artist who formerly owned Randolph's restaurant; he creates
his own style of art by embellishing each plate he touches.
My love affair with the strip shouldn't steal any thunder from the
filet, which also is a lovely piece of meat that instantly melts in the mouth.
I love its presentation on a bed of fresh creamed spinach, crowned with a
ribbon of sauce and surrounded by several fried oysters, with a side of hearty
brabant potatoes laced with tasso.
Although the steaks are the star attractions of the menu (they are
exclusively USDA prime, which sets them apart from other top steakhouse
concepts around town), it would be sheer folly to resist having at least two
courses preceding your entree. The appetizers are superb (be sure to sample the
trio of oysters), but that doesn't mean you should forego sampling a cup of
soup or the tomato-bleu cheese Napoleon salad. This signature salad is a
vegetable version of mile-high pie, made with a stacked pile of thick tomato
slices bountifully punctuated with crumbled Maytag bleu cheese and crushed red
onion, crowned with housemade remoulade sauce.
The soups are excellent, starting with the classic Brennan turtle
soup that we all love. The onion soup is creamy and has an added smokiness from
roasted onions. But my favorite choice is the chicken andouille soup, which
frequently is offered as a special. It's spiced up with tasso, ham hock and
plenty of seasoning.
Although the blackened beef tenderloin is a delicious appetizer, I
would jump right in with the trio of oysters as a starter. The best side dish
in the house is the Pontalba potatoes, sauteed with garlic, caramelized onions,
wild mushrooms, tasso and scallions. They are positively addicting. I am
looking forward to the day when Dickie Brennan's comes out with a line of
bottled steak sauces, hopefully followed by a cookbook.
There are many fine desserts to select from (the house signature is
bananas Foster bread pudding), and the rich chocolate mousse laced with rum has
won raves.
Complimentary valet parking is available at the adjacent garage.
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