Antoine’s Restaurant: Guardian of Old New Orleans Cuisine and Culture
September 27th 2011 Posted at Restaurants
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In 1840, a confident 27 year old Frenchman was determined to overhaul dining in New Orleans. Fresh out of the kitchens of European royalty, Antoine Alciatore founded what was to become simply known as Antoine’s. While the restaurant no longer sits in its original location, the “new” location on St. Louis St. first opened its doors in 1868. Through the generations, Antoine’s descendants have continued to carry out his vision and guided the restaurant through the years.Antoine’s Main Dining Room. (Photo Credit: Antoines.com)Antoine’s menu is flush with old line dishes, such as trout amandine, alligator soup, Chateaubriand, the widely imitated oyster’s Rockefeller (created by Antoine’s in 1889), souffle potatoes, and shrimp remoulade. The shrimp remoulade I ordered on a recent trip seemed a little disappointingly small when it first arrived.The Shrimp Remoulade at Antoine’s is deceptively large. (Photo Credit: Flikr.com)Ho Beverley Restaurants wever, my plate turned out to be a culinary clown car , with shrimp after shrimp after amazing shrimp just magically appearing. Not that I was about to complain! The souffle potatoes are another starter I thoroughly enjoyed, while the heartier alligator soup is a perfect way to shake off the occasional chill during the short New Orleans winter.It is not just the food of New Orleans that the restaurant protects, but also the city’s history and Mardi Gras culture. Antoine’s boasts fourteen different dining rooms with wildly varying seating capacities from 6 to 300! However, each room is a piece of history and has a story to tell. The four carnival rooms are shrines to the old line crews of Rex, Hermes, Proteus, and the Twelfth Night Revelers.Photos of Mardi Gras royalty and countless royal souvenirs deck the walls of these rooms, along with the name of each queen. The Mystery Room served as a speakeasy during prohibition.