Picture an outing to Arnaud’s. There’s the grand entrance leading to dining rooms with etched glass and polished woodwork, where tuxedoed waiters flambee café brulot on tableside carts.
Between the 18 dining rooms, there’s a pocket-sized Mardi Gras museum and two distinct bars, one acclaimed (the French 75), the other practically hidden (you have found the Richelieu Bar, right?).
Preparing desserts tableside at Arnaud’s Restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
The French Creole menu has dishes that people have been ordering through generations here, to the tune of shrimp Arnaud (a definitive remoulade rendition), trout meuniere and bouquet-like plates of souffle potatoes, individually nested in the folds of a napkin.
But lately there have been more scenes here going off script.
A sign in the grand entryway at Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans invites a fun approach to dinner. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Balloon arches make frequent appearances, and diners sometimes turn up in costume well outside of Carnival time or Halloween. The French 75 bar, normally a portal to Belle Époque elegance, regularly hosts pop-up and brand takeovers.
And at periodic special Friday rosé wine lunches through the summer, people don pink attire and make a boozy afternoon of it. One coming up in August starts with Jello shots and brings a D.J. into the dining room.
Even fun new illustrations on the menus and cocktail list mix a feel of classic and playful whimsy.
The menu of desserts and after-dinner drinks features fun illustrations at Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
Arnaud’s can feel like a bastion of old New Orleans, but it also has an eye on the future, and lately it has been courting a younger set to safeguard that future.
This summer in particular, the restaurant’s offerings have been augmented by special deals and happenings calibrated to woo younger people, the sort with many years of potential patronage ahead of them.
Summer trials
Advocate staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON–Founded in 1918 Arnaud’s in the French Quarter is run by a fourth generation of owners, Katy and Archie Casbarian.
The summer slump is a test for any New Orleans restaurant, and many roll out dining deals and special events to get some business coming through before tourism rebounds in the fall.
The citywide summer dining promotion Coolinary returns in August with just that aim, offering special menus at more than 130 restaurants. Arnaud’s is taking part in Coolinary once again, too.
Shrimp Arnaud is the house specialty shrimp remoulade at Arnaud’s Restaurant in the French Quarter. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
At Arnaud’s, though, this summer has also been a laboratory for new ideas hitched to a long-range mandate its next-generation proprietors have pursued with growing urgency since taking the helm at their family restaurant.
History and tradition are part of the distinctive character of New Orleans restaurants. For that to continue, these places also must be relevant to successive generations looking for places to dine out, bring their celebrations and make their own traditions.
Souffle potatoes are a classic at Arnaud’s Restaurant in the French Quarter.
Staff photo by MATTHEW HINTON
“We’ve been around for more than 100 years, and we’re trying to stick around for 100 more,” said Katy Casbarian, who runs the restaurant with her brother Archie Casbarian Jr. and their mother Jane.
“We adore and cherish the people who support us year-round, but we’re always looking for ways to have other people give us a try as well and hopefully make them customers for life,” Casbarian said. “Summer is a good time to try new things.”
Deals, discounts, drinks
The Bacchus Room at Arnaud’s, one of the many rooms for private dining at the historic French Quarter restaurant.
Staff photo by Ian McNulty
Even as Coolinary gears up, a raft of separate summer offerings continue at Arnaud’s through Sept. 7 under the title “SPF,” a pun on sunscreen ratings.
For one riff, SPF stands for “Starter Pack for Foodies,” a discount aimed specifically at young professionals, offered Monday through Wednesday with 30% off the regular dinner menu for people age 21 to 30, like a senior’s discount in reverse. Yes, they do ask for age verification in the dining room; but no, they don’t test the subjective idea of one’s “professional” status to qualify for the deal.A second meaning of SPF is the “Summer Prix Fixe” menu, at $55 for three courses, with lighter dishes for the season, like tuna tartare and swordfish Milanese with arugula salad.And at both the restaurant’s bars, SPF means “Sips, Plates and Fun” for a daily summer happy hour (5 p.m. to 7 p.m.), with $8 cocktails, frozen martinis and snacks.Also new, from July 28 through Sept. 7, the French 75 bar is having a Mediterranean makeover for the Moët French Riviera Pop-Up. Channeling a bit of San-Tropez, the bar will get beach resort décor, a menu of small plates from lobster rolls to sorbet pour-overs, special drinks and lots of Champagne from Moët & Chandon, a collaborator on the takeover.
There’s more. The restaurant has been marketing special deals on bachelor and bachelorette party package deals across its dining rooms and balconies in the summer, ahead of the fall wedding season.
A French 75 cocktail at Arnaud’s French 75 bar is a New Orleans classic.
Advocate staff photo by John McCusker
And later this summer, on Aug. 22, Arnaud’s hosts another of its rosé wine lunches, this one dubbed Pink Rosé Club, riffing on the European beach club theme of the French 75 pop-up.
Friday lunch returning
Last week, with the drinks industry conference Tales of the Cocktail in town, the French 75 was bustling, hosting guest bartenders and spirit brand pop-ups each night.
A Roffignac cocktail and La Bohme, a summery variation on the Vieux Carre cocktail, start a visit to the French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s Restaurant in New Orleans. (Staff photo by Ian McNulty, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)
This week brings just plain old New Orleans summer again, but with a new playbook for a French Quarter institution threading the needle between change, innovation and core identity.
Eyes are already on the fall, and demand for those special rosé lunches have spurred a bigger change to the restaurant schedule. Starting likely sometime in September, Arnaud’s will resume regular Friday lunch service for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.
That will put Arnaud’s back in rotation with those French Quarter restaurants hosting the long Friday lunch, the early weekend kickoff and, hopefully, it will bring another needed infusion of locals back to the French Quarter.
Dining and Cooking