Court of Two Sisters: Defining Dining
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By Chris Petersen   
Thursday, 24 January 2008
smc Famous for its jazz brunch buffet and New Orleans favorites like etouffee, crawfish and jambalaya, Court of Two Sisters is also known for its contemporary takes on a number of classic dishes.
Famous for its jazz brunch buffet and New Orleans favorites like etouffee, crawfish and jambalaya, Court of Two Sisters is also known for its contemporary takes on a number of classic dishes.
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Not many restaurants can claim to be synonymous with their hometowns, but Joe Fein III says his can. “If you say ‘dining in New Orleans’ to 10 people, seven or eight of them will say ‘Court of Two Sisters,’” he says. “We are the New Orleans culture, we’re in a building that was built in 1832.”

It takes more than longevity to become an institution, however, and The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant has the culinary reputation to back up its long history. Famous for its jazz brunch buffet and New Orleans favorites like etouffee, crawfish and jambalaya, Court of Two Sisters is also known for its contemporary takes on a number of classic dishes.

Even though much of New Orleans is still recovering from the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, Fein says the restaurant is getting back to full strength, as well.

“[Business is] twice as good as it was last year,” he says. The recent success the city has had in attracting tourists and conventions has been a good sign, he says.

The restaurant is located in the 600 block of Royal St. in New Orleans, which used to be known as Governor’s Row for housing several of the state’s governors at various times.

The two sisters of the restaurant’s name, Emma and Bertha Camors, made their home on the block and in 1886 opened a shop on the ground floor of their home. Called “The Shop of the Two Sisters,” it sold costumes, gowns and other notions to many of the city’s upper crust. The sisters were themselves members of an aristocratic Creole family.

Eventually, the Camors sisters began serving tea and cakes to customers in the house’s courtyard. The house changed hands several times beginning in the 1920s, but serving food was a constant. The house had already become something of a tourist attraction when Fein’s father, Joe Fein Jr., took over the operation in 1963.

Uniquely New Orleans
Fein says the restaurant provides an ambiance and atmosphere that is uniquely New Orleans and makes it one of the top tourist attractions in the French Quarter, as well as a popular destination for locals.

The courtyard, he says, remains one of the restaurant’s most unique features. “We dine outside, weather permitting, every day and night and people love to eat outside,” Fein says. “During the day it’s very festive, very fun and we have a band playing. At night, it’s very subdued and romantic.”

Fein says he wants The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant to remain friendly and warm in the Creole tradition, and that means a wait staff that’s courteous and professional without being aloof.

“Service is very, very polite – I don’t put up with any hoity-toityness like some old-line restaurants not only in New Orleans, but all over the country,” Fein says.

Creole Flavor
The cuisine at Court of Two Sisters blends in perfectly with its surroundings, according to Chef Chad Panedo. He describes the menu as “Creole-French, but it’s New Orleans-influenced.” He notes that the city’s roots are not limited to French and Creole, and that authentic New Orleans cooking can include Spanish and Acadian influences, as well. In addition, the menu also contains some surprising twists on New Orleans cooking that give traditional dishes a new flavor.

Still, Pandeo says the restaurant likes to maintain a New Orleans flavor in everything it serves, right down to the varieties of saltwater fish it serves. “I want it to be something that comes from our state, and that can range anywhere from tuna to redfish,” he says.

“We try to keep it indigenous,” Panedo adds, noting that many European tourists visit Court of Two Sisters. They and other out-of-town tourists prefer authentic New Orleans cuisine. That’s why the menu at Court of Two Sisters appeals so much to visitors, Panedo says. “When I go on vacation, I don’t want to eat what I can get at home,” he says.

Fein says he offers his chefs a lot of leeway in developing new dishes, with just a little direction from him for guidance. The restaurant’s chefs have the freedom to develop dishes based on their own preferences. “I just say, ‘What do you want to do?’” he says. “If I have an idea, I’ll kind of push it on [Panedo], but I’m not challenging him. As long as he keeps doing what he’s doing and doing it well, I’m happy.”

Panedo says he draws inspiration from many different sources, but always makes sure they fit into the New Orleans style. “Basically, I kind of keep a stack of cookbooks,” he says. “My personal favorites are New Orleans cookbooks. If I see one, I buy it.”

Blending concepts has led to innovations such as a crawfish spring roll, which infuses Creole with Asian cooking.

“You’ve taken an Asian concept and given it a New Orleans twist,” Panedo says.

Building Back Up
Fein says the impact of Hurricane Katrina can still be felt today, and even though The Court of Two Sisters Restaurant experienced the same rough times as the rest of the city, it’s also experiencing the same gradual recovery.

“It’s starting to come back; we’ve got the ophthalmologists in town now,” Fein says.

The restaurant was hit hard by the storm, and struggled to climb back at first. The most significant impacts were felt in the restaurant’s staff and supplies, Fein says.

“First of all, before the storm we had 175 employees,” he says. “We didn’t get opened until Dec. 1, [2005], so we were closed for three months. We had to discard all the food and the refrigerators because we lost power for two weeks.”

With the majority of the city’s residents displaced by the storm, Court of Two Sisters could not bring a full staff back to work when it finally re-opened.

Its hours also had to be curtailed due to the lack of business and resources. “We ended up getting about 30 pre-storm employees back, and we were closed two nights and one day [a week] because we didn’t have the staff,” according to Fein. “It just disrupted everybody.”

Although sales at first were only a quarter of their pre-Katrina levels, Fein says Court of Two Sisters is currently at about 60 percent of its sales before the storm.

He notes that conventions are beginning to return to the city – a good sign that tourism will soon be at its usual level in the coming years.

“We’re slowly starting to get them, and the individual tourists are starting to come back,” he says. “The only thing on my mind is getting business back. The storm affected us more than anything in our lives.”

More important than the restaurant’s future success is the success of New Orleans in pulling through the disaster, Fein says. “My restaurant is just a small part of the whole picture,” he says. “If the country and the tourist trade have faith in New Orleans, then I’m just along for the ride.”

Editor’s Note: For more information on how New Orleans’ foodservice, tourism and hospitality industries are bouncing back nearly three years after Katrina, see the (link to Slice of Life)
 
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