Lunch and Twenty Five Cent Martinis at Commanders Palace New Orleans

In my 5 trips to New Orleans, Commander's Palace has by far been my favorite meal while visiting the Big Easy. If you are a fan of Top Chef and the restaurant name sounds familiar to you, Top Chef New Orleans episode 3 was filmed there where the contestants had to recreate an iconic palace menu item. The gorgeous restaurant was established in 1880 and can call Emeril Lagasse and (Chef K-Paul) as two of its alumni.

We visited Commanders Palace this past December and after an amazing meal and experience, Commanders Palace became one of the top choices for our Rehearsal Dinner.

Photo from CommandersPalace.com

Our reservations were on a Monday afternoon at 12pm. It was incredible seeing the various types of diners eating at the historic establishment. I could have people watched all day, especially since we were fortunate to get a table inside the famous garden room. We instantly ordered one of the $0.25 martinis (available at lunch M-F with the purchase of an entree). Sitting in a beautiful setting with the biggest smile on my face, drinking the cheapest Cosmopolitan ever consumed, I excitedly checked out the lunch menu. There is a limit of 3 per person and the answer is yes - I drank 3 :)

$0.25 martinis - limit of 3 per person

Gabe and I both ordered off of the two course lunch special menu. We were given a choice of three entrees and a soup or salad. I started off with the Hearts of romaine, grated Parmesan, pressed egg, housemade bacon, French bread croutons, shaved Gruyère, and creamy black pepper dressing. I can say this salad was beyond any expectations I had going into it. The pressed egg and housemade bacon was a perfect companion to the dressing.

Gabe ordered the turtle soup, which was hands down the best turtle soup I have had. Sadly, as much as I love turtle soup - it does not love me at all so I couldn't order it for myself. Thank goodness I adored the salad or I would have had some major food jealousy. He ate every ounce of it and requested we put this on the rehearsal dinner menu as an option.

For our main course, we both ordered Assiette of Pork - Housemade sausage, slow roasted pork shoulder, and spicy cochon de lait boudin with Brussells sprouts, Creole mustard, and smoky trotter jus. Again, we ate every ounce - it was delicious.

Yet Gabe's Dads meal stole the spotlight, Braised Duck “Po-boy” entrée salad. It was so good that my eyes rolled. The salad consisted of Covey Rise greens, smoked sweet onions, sultanas, dried cranberries, and fresh goat cheese with truffled triple cream brie on toasted Leidenheimer bread & a duck fat apple cider vinaigrette. Insanity on a plate.

Instead of ordering dessert, Gabe and I continued our drinking fest and were arm twisted into trying the fig limoncello. When we left Commander's Palace, I had the recipe to this amazing goodness in my pocket yet 3 martinis and 1 shot of limoncello during daylight makes me a forgetfull person and I lost it!!!!!!!!! Upon arriving home, I thought no big deal, I can find it online - nope.

I strongly encourage anyone who visits New Orleans to try out Commander's Palace. If you can go for lunch, make your reservations in advance so you can take advantage of the Garden Room (and the $0.25 martini's, duh). Upon walking through the restaurant and taking a tour upstairs, you are in awe on the amount of awards it has received. So many James Beard winners and noms, a four diamond rating and notably the most famous restaurant in all of NOLA. The list goes on and on - you can read for yourself here.