Drink,
Eat and Be Merry
by Ian McNulty
Consider Napoleon House on Chartres Street, where the soundtrack
of classical music and an ambience of well-weathered elegance
would seem to challenge change. But Pimm's Cup cocktails had
been passing across the Napoleon House bar for more than 50
years when management first decided to add a food menu in
the 1970s. Anchored by an acclaimed muffuletta, it stuck to
a basic fare of sandwiches and appetizers for about 20 years,
served from an improvised kitchen that doubled as the breezeway
to the ladies' restroom.
But Napoleon House is surrounded by pricey restaurants, like
K-Paul's Louisiana Kitchen, Emeril Lagasse's Nola and the
Rib Room. By 1995, the owners decided they could capture more
of the dinner business coursing through this part of thw Quarter
by expanding the kitchen and menu.
"We were trying to capture a market we were losing. People
would come in for drinks, then go to dinner and maybe come
back for an after-dinner drink," says Robert Simms, who was
hired as an executive chef and charged with transforming Napoleon
House's culinary status.
Now while gumbos and po-boys are still available from the
bar menu, dishes like grilled duck and poached oysters Florentine
are delivered to tables in the rear dining room and courtyard.
Simms says Napoleon House does about half of its business
through the bar and half from the kitchen. The fine dining
portion of Napoleon House is now called Girod's Bistro, but
to the casual observer the establishment appears as one. This
has surprised more than a few patrons stopping by for a drink.
"They'll start off with a Pimm's cup. Then they see the menu
and get an appetizer and end up having dinner with us," Simms
says.
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Girod's Bistro | Drink, Eat &
Be Merry! | Bistro Menu Pg.1 2
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Special Tales of the Cocktail "Spirited Dinner" Menu
Excerpted from
an article that originally appeared in the Dining & Catering
Supplement to New Orleans City Business, October 30,
2000
Photo by Amy Dickerson
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