The Timeless Napoleon House
Longtime patrons of the venerable establishment will find very few changes after eight years of ownership by noted restauranteur Ralph Brennan.
– by Angelique LaCour
– photos by Ellis Anderson
Bobbie Anderson wears a white shirt with a black bow tie as she serves up the signature Pimm’s Cup cocktails and muffuletta sandwiches at Napoleon House, one of the French Quarter’s most iconic restaurants.
“When I first started working at Napoleon House, many of the regulars were surprised to be served by a woman,” said Anderson, who has worked in the restaurant/bar business for 32 years.
When the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group (RBRG) purchased Napoleon House in 2015, Brennan appointed long-time Chef Chris Montero as General Manager. Soon thereafter Montero reached out to Anderson, who he had worked with at other RBRG establishments, and asked her to join the Napoleon House’s service staff.
Server Bobbi Anderson ready for the lunch crowds.
Traditionally, both wait staff and bartenders at the classic French Quarter restaurants have been men. While that practice has changed over the years, just about everything else at Napoleon House – the soft amber lighting, weathered paintings adorning the peeling, mottled walls that display hundreds of hand-written quotes from patrons, the opera and classical music background soundtrack— is the same as it was when Peter “Pete” Impastato established The Napoleon House Bar in the 1940s.
When Pete died in 1971, and his son, Sal, took over, the only change he made was the addition of food. He started with heated muffulettas, which created quite a stir among locals because traditionally muffulettas were always served cold. For the next 40 years Sal maintained the Napoleon House old-world ambience cherished by generations of patrons.
In 2015, Sal was ready to retire, and the Impastato family decided to sell the business. Sal started looking for a buyer - but not just any buyer. He wanted to turn over his family’s legacy to someone who would be a great steward and retain the intrinsic value of the Napoleon House his father had created more than seven decades ago.
General Manager/Chef Chris Montero
Bartender Kieth Blanda has worked at Napoleon House for 15 years.
Jennifer Rahn, another longtime server at Napoleon House.
Sal approached Ralph Brennan about buying Napoleon House because he was inspired by the work Brennan had done to restore his family’s original French Quarter restaurant in 2014.
Like the Impastato’s, the Brennan family had created a restaurant legacy that began with the now famous Brennan’s Restaurant on Royal Street. Coincidentally Brennan’s on Royal St. opened in 1946, just a year after Pete opened Napoleon House Bar after he returned home from service during WWII.
“Sal was confident that Ralph would be a great steward and would retain the integrity of Napoleon House,” Montero said. “And Ralph was committed to honoring the legacy of the Impastato family.”
Brennan was honored that Sal had chosen him to carry on the rich traditions and culture Napoleon House embodies. But according to Chef Montero, when word got out that Napoleon House had been sold, their biggest challenge was assuring local patrons that nothing would change.
During the transition Brennan worked closely with Sal to learn all the nuances that made the Napoleon House the success it is. In 2019 when Napoleon House was awarded the prestigious and coveted Tales of the Cocktail Timeless US Award, Brennan invited Sal to join him on stage at the Orpheum Theater to receive the award. The crystal plaque is now proudly displayed on the wall next to the bar.
Montero, a native New Orleanian and self-proclaimed history buff, divides the two-century old building’s history into two periods. In the early 19th century, it was built as the lavish home of New Orleans’ first elected mayor, Nicholas Girod, and was called The Mayor Girod House. The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1970 as one of the city’s finest examples of French-influenced architecture.
The house became renowned when Mayor Girod offered to rescue Napoleon Bonaparte from his exile on the Isle of Elba and bring him to his home in New Orleans. But before the offer could be accepted, Napoleon died. Nonetheless, the building eventually became known as the Napoleon House in his honor.
The building’s second century began in 1920 when Italian immigrant, Joseph “Uncle Joe” Impastato, bought the building and opened a grocery store. The Impastato family occupied the upper floors, a common practice for family-owned businesses at that time. Uncle Joe lived there until his death in 1985 at the age of 100.
When Napoleon House was taken over by RBRG, nearly all the employees stayed on. Three of those making the transition were Mario Sauzo, Bob Horan (now a manager), and Keith Blanda, who have been at Napoleon House 30, 20+ and 15 years respectively.
But it didn’t take long for new server Bobbi Anderson to feel right at home. She’s planning on becoming one of the restaurant’s multi-decade employees.
“This place is a perfect bubble for me and I plan to stay until I retire,” Anderson said. “I love the people I work with, meeting visitors from all over the world, and becoming friends with many of the local regulars.”
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