Miss Ella of Commander's Palace

In this culinary memoir, readers get a personal tour of the storied New Orleans restaurant with the woman who put it—and Creole cuisine—on the map.

Meet Ella Brennan: mother, mentor, blunt-talking fireball, and matriarch of a New Orleans restaurant empire. Ella is famous for bringing national attention to Creole cuisine, and her unique vision is best summed up in her own words: "I don't want a restaurant where a jazz band can't come marching through."

In this candid autobiography, Ella...