Taste of Downtown New Orleans Adds Spice to Downtown Disney

Where do you go when you already have four successful restaurants in your hometown? If you’re renowned New Orleans restaurateur Ralph Brennan, you go to Disneyland.

Brennan, whose family runs the famous Commander’s Palace restaurant, has never expanded beyond his home base, where he operates Red Fish Grill, Bacco, Mr. B’s Bistro and the Storyville District. He is now gearing up to open Ralph Brennan’s Jazz Kitchen in 2001 inside the Downtown Disney complex.

“Disney called us about two years ago and we liked what we saw and heard,” Brennan said recently. “We are trying to make this an authentic New Orleans restaurant that will look like a French Quarter building. There’s more than just cooking a recipe, there’s also kind of a spirit of New Orleans that you want to have.”

Brennan promises authentic gumbo and jambalaya. To ensure authenticity and quality, he is bringing some of his staff from his New Orleans eateries to the Disney project. The two-story restaurant will have a jazz club and restaurant downstairs, and a more expensive fine dining area upstairs. The two restaurants will have separate kitchens and menus.