Hello Old Friend!

Good news! Brennan's of Houston is re-opening on February 16, 2010. I have missed you. Here is the full story as reported by Houston Chronicle.

No longer blackened, Brennan's is back
By GREG MORAGO
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 10, 2010, 9:12PM

Alex Brennan-Martin is an anxious man this week. Don't get him wrong: he's thrilled — no, beyond ecstatic — that Brennan's of Houston will reopen Tuesday.

But the official comeback of one of the city's most beloved restaurants, destroyed in fire during Hurricane Ike in September 2008, has the usually unflappable restaurateur a tad apprehensive.

“It's exciting, but it's without a doubt nerve wracking too,” Brennan-Martin said Wednesday, explaining that the look of the iconic restaurant might be surprising to diners who have made Brennan's one of the city's top tables since it opened 43 years ago.

“Folks don't necessarily like change. We have definitely changed some things but we've tried to stay as true to the spirit of the rooms as we could be. We've tried to save the best and restore the best of the building and improve areas that, frankly, needed improvement.”

After 17 months of work — a difficult, emotional restoration that also included replacing a 40-year-old oak tree that was destroyed in the fire — Brennan's is ready to begin partying again. Perhaps it's fitting that the reopening is on Mardi Gras; Brennan's fans are undoubtedly ready to let the beads and feathers fly.

“It has been an incredible struggle. It's also been joyous in that so many of our customers and employees have stayed in touch over all this time. It does the heart good.”

James Koonce, the restaurant's “wine guy” also continues to work for Brennan's from home and currently is helping reconstruct the wine list. Koonce and his daughter, Katherine, then 4, were both severely burned in the fire that ravaged the restaurant.

“Although it's still a very long road, they're both doing much better,” Brennan-Martin said.

Opening night will mostly be for the restaurant's devoted group of loyalists. “There's a list of folks who have asked for the first night. We are full with that,” Brennan-Martin said. “We will open as much as possible to guests after that.”

Brennan's is accepting reservations beginning Feb. 17 but don't be surprised if the book already seems full. The restaurant is controlling reservations while it gets back in the gumbo groove. “We'll be ramping up” reservations as the staff gets its sea legs, Brennan-Martin said. “We can't wait to welcome back all of our friends.”

“The general look and feel and spirit of the place will evoke the best of Louisiana and New Orleans and maybe take a step or two forward at the same time,” Brennan-Martin said.

So too will the food. Executive chef Danny Trace, a veteran of the Commander's Palace family of restaurants, is ready to serve up Brennan's Texas Creole fare. “While the fish pecan, turtle soup and Bananas Foster will be identical, some dishes will have his flair to it. Without a doubt there will be a glimmer of some of his coastal influences in it.”

One thing Brennan-Martin isn't anxious about is his staff. Of the roughly 120 to 130 employees, about half are returning workers, he said.

Nervousness aside, Brennan-Martin sounds like a man who is more than ready to resume what he loves doing; to return home.

“I just want to get back to being a restaurateur,” he said. “The music to my ears is always when I hear a customer say ‘Thanks, I had a great time and we'll be back.' If there's one thing I'm looking forward to hearing, that's probably it.”

He'll only have to wait until Tuesday.