5 ms·

Antoine’s, the oldest US restaurant owned by a single family

54 points by Thevet 10y ago

dforrestwilson1 10y ago
Have only been once, but loved it. Highly recommend if you find yourself in New Orleans!
- TallGuyShort 10y ago
  Same. I actually hadn't heard of it before going there on a business dinner. The food and service were great, but we were also given a tour of the restaurant afterwards and the size and richness of the history there is staggering. I think the restaurant takes up the entire city block on 2 floors, with about 9 different dining halls / rooms for large catered events, intimate occasions, etc. a massive underground cellar, etc. Very cool experience...
- ghaff 10y ago
  I admittedly lived in New Orleans before the modern generation of "celebrity chef" restaurants really got going. K-Paul's had just opened. So most of the best restaurants were all cut from a somewhat similar high creole cloth. But Antoine's was always right near the top of my favorites--though I haven't been there for years. The way things worked back then was they tended to stick the tourists in the front room but if you knew one or more of the waiters by name they'd give you one of their tables in the back.
algirau 10y ago
Love to old school charm. Dinner jackets are required but if you forget your they have some for you to wear! I went once and they burned my steak, but it was quickly replaced with one that was perfectly cooked and two free glasses of high end champagne. Love that place.
danso 10y ago
1840 was a long time ago...is there any restaurant, regardless of ownership, that is older? I suppose there may be older restaurants that have passed from one family to another over the centuries?
- bratsche 10y ago
  Certainly if you go outside the US there are. Supposedly Stiftskeller in Salzburg was established in 803. Yeah, over a thousand years earlier. http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html
  - clock_tower 10y ago
    I think there's also a hotel in Japan that was established around King Arthur's time. (Approximately speaking; if there was a historical figure who roughly corresponds to King Arthur, he would probably have lived in the 500s or 600s, opposing early Saxon settlement/invasion.) Correction -- from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies -- there's a construction company from the late 500s, but the oldest hotel is from 705. (But, considering that Charlemagne was born in 742, that's not too shabby.)
- mturmon 10y ago
  There are older restaurants, but for example, Cafe Procope in Paris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_Procope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_Procope) was opened in 1686, and is still in operation. It was worth it for me to eat at a place where (for example) Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin ate.
- KineticLensman 10y ago
  'Rules' [0] in Covent Garden, London. 1798. Great place! [0] http://rules.co.uk/ http://rules.co.uk/
- arethuza 10y ago
  Some random ones from Scotland (I'm sure there are plenty more): Drovers Inn, Inverarnan (1705) http://www.droversinn.co.uk/ http://www.droversinn.co.uk/ The Sheep Heid, Edinburgh (allegedly 1360, but a bit vague) https://www.thesheepheidedinburgh.co.uk/ https://www.thesheepheidedinburgh.co.uk/
- ballooney 10y ago
  Spot the american! (I mean that in a good-natured way). There are a few 1700s restaurants in london, plenty of 1800s, and of course if you look at pubs in the UK then 1840 is practically modern. One pf my local pubs dates to 1381. The food is probably better now than it was then.
WhitneyLand 10y ago
3.5 stars at Yelp, 3.6 at Google reviews
- ginko 10y ago
  Looking up the place's menu on their website and watching pictures of their dishes on Yelp, I have the feeling this place wouldn't be doing very well if it didn't have its illustrious history.
  - HillRat 10y ago
    Well, it is what it is -- haute Creole cuisine, its lineage derived from traditional, heavily-sauced French cooking. It's definitely not tailored to modern palates (I certainly don't disagree with you!), but they execute extremely well, unlike many of the illustrious places with poor kitchens that grace the French Quarter.
camiller 10y ago
Never been there but as soon as I read the title of the post I knew (and confirmed reading the story): Bugs Bunny: Of course, if you really want to make something good, nothing beats a good old Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise, a la Antoine. Francois: A la Antoine? ZE Antoine of New Orleans? Bugs Bunny: I don't mean Antoine of Flatbush.
typetypetype 10y ago
Very cool. I wonder if they have anything from year one still in use.
kirykl 10y ago
Just my 2 cents but I've eaten there. It was bad. Maybe it was decent in the 1870s or 1920s. Service feels like a catered banquet where they are short handed, and not tipped. The food between inedible and mediocre. I'd skip it

54 points by Thevet 10y ago

dforrestwilson1 10y ago

Have only been once, but loved it. Highly recommend if you find yourself in New Orleans!

TallGuyShort 10y ago
Same. I actually hadn't heard of it before going there on a business dinner. The food and service were great, but we were also given a tour of the restaurant afterwards and the size and richness of the history there is staggering. I think the restaurant takes up the entire city block on 2 floors, with about 9 different dining halls / rooms for large catered events, intimate occasions, etc. a massive underground cellar, etc. Very cool experience...
ghaff 10y ago
I admittedly lived in New Orleans before the modern generation of "celebrity chef" restaurants really got going. K-Paul's had just opened. So most of the best restaurants were all cut from a somewhat similar high creole cloth. But Antoine's was always right near the top of my favorites--though I haven't been there for years. The way things worked back then was they tended to stick the tourists in the front room but if you knew one or more of the waiters by name they'd give you one of their tables in the back.

algirau 10y ago

Love to old school charm. Dinner jackets are required but if you forget your they have some for you to wear! I went once and they burned my steak, but it was quickly replaced with one that was perfectly cooked and two free glasses of high end champagne. Love that place.

danso 10y ago

1840 was a long time ago...is there any restaurant, regardless of ownership, that is older? I suppose there may be older restaurants that have passed from one family to another over the centuries?

bratsche 10y ago
Certainly if you go outside the US there are. Supposedly Stiftskeller in Salzburg was established in 803. Yeah, over a thousand years earlier. http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html http://www.stpeter-stiftskeller.at/en/the-restaurant.html
- clock_tower 10y ago
  I think there's also a hotel in Japan that was established around King Arthur's time. (Approximately speaking; if there was a historical figure who roughly corresponds to King Arthur, he would probably have lived in the 500s or 600s, opposing early Saxon settlement/invasion.) Correction -- from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies -- there's a construction company from the late 500s, but the oldest hotel is from 705. (But, considering that Charlemagne was born in 742, that's not too shabby.)
mturmon 10y ago
There are older restaurants, but for example, Cafe Procope in Paris (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_Procope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Café_Procope) was opened in 1686, and is still in operation. It was worth it for me to eat at a place where (for example) Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin ate.
KineticLensman 10y ago
'Rules' [0] in Covent Garden, London. 1798. Great place! [0] http://rules.co.uk/ http://rules.co.uk/
arethuza 10y ago
Some random ones from Scotland (I'm sure there are plenty more): Drovers Inn, Inverarnan (1705) http://www.droversinn.co.uk/ http://www.droversinn.co.uk/ The Sheep Heid, Edinburgh (allegedly 1360, but a bit vague) https://www.thesheepheidedinburgh.co.uk/ https://www.thesheepheidedinburgh.co.uk/
ballooney 10y ago
Spot the american! (I mean that in a good-natured way). There are a few 1700s restaurants in london, plenty of 1800s, and of course if you look at pubs in the UK then 1840 is practically modern. One pf my local pubs dates to 1381. The food is probably better now than it was then.

WhitneyLand 10y ago

3.5 stars at Yelp, 3.6 at Google reviews

ginko 10y ago
Looking up the place's menu on their website and watching pictures of their dishes on Yelp, I have the feeling this place wouldn't be doing very well if it didn't have its illustrious history.
- HillRat 10y ago
  Well, it is what it is -- haute Creole cuisine, its lineage derived from traditional, heavily-sauced French cooking. It's definitely not tailored to modern palates (I certainly don't disagree with you!), but they execute extremely well, unlike many of the illustrious places with poor kitchens that grace the French Quarter.

camiller 10y ago

Never been there but as soon as I read the title of the post I knew (and confirmed reading the story): Bugs Bunny: Of course, if you really want to make something good, nothing beats a good old Louisiana Back-bay Bayou Bunny Bordelaise, a la Antoine. Francois: A la Antoine? ZE Antoine of New Orleans? Bugs Bunny: I don't mean Antoine of Flatbush.

typetypetype 10y ago

Very cool. I wonder if they have anything from year one still in use.

kirykl 10y ago

Just my 2 cents but I've eaten there. It was bad. Maybe it was decent in the 1870s or 1920s. Service feels like a catered banquet where they are short handed, and not tipped. The food between inedible and mediocre. I'd skip it