The Restaurants We Can't Live Without By Tom Fitzmorris. . . Revised June 2009 Commander’s Palace Contemporary Creole. Garden District: 1403 Washington Ave.. 504-899-8221. Map. Lunch and dinner seven days. Saturday and Sunday jazz brunch. Very Dressy (jackets not required but recommended for men) AE DC DS MC V www.commanderspalace.com   WHY IT'S ESSENTIAL   Combining classicism with inventiveness, hitting peaks in every index that matters to diners, and ever improving on what it's done in its brilliant past, Commander's is once again New Orleans' most pleasurable restaurant. After a few years caught in the traffic of changing tastes, Commander's got a fresh start after the hurricane and is cooking the most exciting food in its history. All of this takes place in a stunning, historic New Orleans property, with a service staff that sets the standard locally.   WHY IT'S GOOD   Commander's began emphasizing local foodstuffs and flavors in the late 1970s, when few other major restaurants were doing so. That imperative has only grown stronger. It has few peers in its program of buying interesting and excellent local produce. Chef Tory McPhail, as innovative as he is personally engaging, leads an exceptionally strong kitchen team, many members of which could open their own restaurants. The best evidence of their pre-eminence is the "Chef's Playground" menu, which breaks new ground every night and offers the serious eater high levels of both gustatory and mental amusement.   BACKSTORY   Commander's Palace is the flagship of the Brennan family's restaurant collection. They bought the antebellum Garden District mansion (it has been a restaurant since at least 1880) in the mid-1960s, but didn't do much with it until the split in the Brennan family in 1973. That brought the elders of the Brennans here, led by Ella and Dick Brennan, two of the most brilliant restaurateurs in the annals of the business. They did nothing less than reinvent New Orleans haute cuisine from the ground up, in the process bringing to prominence Chefs Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse--the two most famous of Commander's alumni. That launched trends in cooking and service that pervade most New Orleans restaurants to this day. Commander's stayed at the top until the early 2000s, when management shifted to the next generation and the place was spooked by the death of their talented and immensely likable chef Jamie Shannon. It took Hurricane Katrina to exorcise the place; the storm did or revealed such heavy damage to the old building that it took over a year and eight figures to repair. When it reopened, however, owners Ti Martin and Lally Brennan (with the continuing help of Ti's mom Ella Brennan, who lives next door) and Chef Tory McPhail came back with not only newly (and uniquely) beautiful premises but the most interesting cooking ever.   DINING ROOM   The Victorian mansion and its adjacent courtyard and outbuildings make for a large restaurant with a wide variety dining environments. The most controversial is the main dining room downstairs, which makes an unusual statement with its lighting, materials, and birds. (People either love it or hate it; I love it.) The trellised upstairs Garden Room is the most popular among locals, up there in the leafy part of the big live oak tree, looking down into the courtyard. Other rooms, other environments. In spring and fall, they serve out in the courtyard itself. At other times, nobody will stop you from having a drink in that romantic spot before or after dinner.   ESSENTIAL DISHES   The menu at Commander's Palace now is dominated by daily specials, most of them arranged into complete dinners of three and four courses. Those will always be the best food in the house on any given night. A relatively small number of standards--a few of them around for decades--are on the a la carte side. Shrimp remoulade. Tasso shrimp Henican. Turtle soup. Gulf fish with pecans. Lacquered quail with crabmeat. Rack of lamb. Bananas Foster. Bread pudding soufflee. Chocolate Sheba (a dense flourless chocolate cake).   FOR BEST RESULTS   The best possible meal here for the adventuresome diner is the Chef's Playground menu, eight to ten courses veering from solid hits to experimental dishes. Lunch at Commander's is convivial and a great bargain, complete repasts available for $25 or less.   OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT   The famous Saturday and Sunday jazz brunches (the concept of which was created here) are nowhere near as good as the other meals, but people have so much fun they don't notice.   FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD   Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter. Dining Environment +3 Consistency +1 Service +3 Value +2 Attitude +2 Wine and Bar +3 Hipness +3 Local Color +3   SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES    Live music Outdoor dining Romantic Windows with a view Good for business meetings Private dining room (fewer than 25) Private dining room (more than 25) Open Sunday Open Monday Open most holidays Well-known chef Historic Vegetarian dishes Good for children Valet parking free Reservations accepted Reservations honored promptly Click here for an index to all 200 Essential Restaurant reviews. © 2009 Tom Fitzmorris. All rights reserved. news@nomenu.com