Louisiana Eats: Ms Ella of Commander’s Palace – Louisiana Eats – It’s New Orleans

On this week s show, we celebrate Commander s Palace and its visionary matriarch Ella Brennan, whose highly anticipated memoir is coming out next week. First, we speak with Ella s daughter and co author, Ti Adelaide Martin. Born into her family s restaurant dynasty, Ti knows all too well her mother s revered place both in the food industry and in New Orleans history. Aware of the fascination with her mother s life story, Ti wrote down a number of stories about Ella over the years that she eventually incorporated into the memoir. Next, we speak to the book s illustrator, Tim Trapolin, whose line drawings complement each chapter in the book. Tim s work has long graced menus as well as walls within Brennan family restaurants and he also illustrated Ti and Lally s book, In The Land of Cocktails. Tim discusses his involvement with the project and what it was like to depict some of Ella s most harrowing moments using pen and ink. Then, the Brennan family tells the story of Ella Brennan s culinary impact in their own words, from Ella s coming of age to her most transformative moments at Commander s Palace. We d like to congratulate Miss Ella and the entire Brennan family for having the vision and determination to forever change America s food scene, and to bravely tell her amazing story in the new memoir, Miss Ella of Commander s Palace, available September 13 in bookstores everywhere.