Commander's Palace

Martini · 25¢

Three, because that’s enough

Commander’s Palace sits at the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum Street, in the Garden District of New Orleans: a turquoise house with blue-and-white awnings along its whole front. You come for lunch, Wednesday to Friday, when service begins at 11:30 a.m.

The house puts it in writing: yes, the martinis are really 25 cents. They come with any main course. There are four: Classic, Commander’s, Cosmopolitan and Ray’s Melon. The menu stops you at three, “‘cause that’s enough.”

Start with the Classic. In the house’s own photograph it comes with an olive and a pickled onion on one gold pick. Keep the Ray’s Melon for last, if you want a color on the table.

Turtle soup · $12

Finished at the table

The first course is the soup the house is known for. Turtle soup au sherry, $12 at lunch: veal stock, chopped egg, crushed lemon, and a splash of aged sherry added at your table.

If you cannot choose, order the Soup 1-1-1 for $13. It is a demitasse of each of the day’s three soups: the turtle, the Creole gumbo and the soup of the day. It is the order for two people who want to argue about which one wins.

If you would rather not choose at all, the chef’s Classic Creole Luncheon is $49 for three courses: the turtle soup, simmered for 72 hours with minced snapping turtle; a lacquered Texas quail stuffed with pork boudin; and the bread pudding soufflé.

Chicken thighs · $25

The main course that earns them

The martinis come with “any Entrée,” and the lunch mains run from $25 to $44. The $25 one is the chargrilled chicken thighs. The Creole-spiced Gulf fish is $35, the cast-iron roasted wild white shrimp $34, a collard green spanakopita $28, the Black Angus tournedos $44. The two-course special is the other quiet bargain: a cochon de lait tostada for $25, with a soup or a salad included.

The cooking belongs to the executive chef, Meg Bickford. Before her came Emeril Lagasse, Jamie Shannon and Tory McPhail. The Brennan family has run the house since 1974; Ti Adelaide Martin and Lally Brennan are its co-proprietors today. Ella Brennan, the family’s matriarch, took the James Beard Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009, and the house counts seven Beard awards in all.

The rule in the kitchen is “dirt to plate within 100 miles.” The house says it aims for nine ingredients in ten from inside that radius.

Glass of wine · $7.99

When three is enough

After the third martini, the lunch menu has two more cocktails at $5, the Bee’s Knees and the Crescent City Cooler. The featured lunch wines are $7.99 a glass.

Behind them sits a cellar the house puts at 2,600 wines and 18,500 bottles, with more than forty poured by the glass. The man in charge is Dan Davis, whose title on the staff page is “Wine Guy.”

Soufflé · $11

Order it with your main course

The Creole bread pudding soufflé is $11. The menu calls it “The Queen of Creole Desserts” and finishes it at the table with warm whiskey cream.

It must be ordered twenty minutes ahead. Order it when you order your main course, and it lands as you put down your fork. If you skip it, the pecan pie à la mode is $10 and the Creole cream cheese cheesecake $12.

At Commander’s Palace, the soufflé costs as much as forty-four martinis.

Table · no charge

Ask for the garden room

The room to ask for is the one the house calls the garden room: a teal banquette, white cloths, brass sconces, and tall windows full of oak trunks and the courtyard’s striped awning. Ask for a table by the windows when you book, and again at the door.

Book through Tock from the restaurant’s site, or call +1 504-899-8221. The house publishes no booking window, and the last seating changes with the season: call if the day matters. For eight or more, the Wine Room seats eight to fourteen and the Little Room ten to fourteen, and the house keeps a Chef’s Table it calls one of the first in the country.

Lunch is the only meal with the quarter martinis. Monday and Tuesday are dinner only, from 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday are jazz brunch, the same house at another tempo: Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Total

$48.75, before tax and tip

Turtle soup, chicken thighs, the soufflé and three Classics come to $48.75 before tax and tip. The house splits a check into four equal payments at most.

The dress code is the price of the door. Business attire; jackets preferred for men; collared shirts and closed-toe shoes required. No shorts, flip-flops, T-shirts, sweatshirts or hats; jeans are discouraged, and ripped jeans are not allowed. The private dining page says the code is strictly enforced. Pull up on Washington Avenue and the valet parks the car, at no charge.

On the way out, next door at 1427 Washington Avenue, the house’s café, Le Petit Bleu, sells crêpes and the cookbook.