Emile Commander (1857-1906)
While I included the lives of many New Orleans Chefs in The Culinarians (2017), there were careers that I had to cut because of reasons of space. These are some of the most consquential.
Born on the eve of the Civil War in New Orleans, Emile Commander learned of the hospitality trade by being a salesman for a brewery. He knew the saloons and cookshops of the city and determined to become proprietor of an eating house. A little out of his teens, he began renting a space on the corner of Washington Avenue and Coliseum. It was a lunchroom with a modest bar. A prudent man, he expanded his operation slowly, cultivating business by keeping the prices on his food and beverages economical.
In 1892 (not 1880 as sometimes appears in print) he erected a substantial restaurant & saloon on the opposite corner of Washington and Coliseum, the famous mansion now known as Commander’s Palace. His petition to sell alcoholic beverages there is dated January 1893. And the notice of a January 15 1893 opening (below) appeared in a December 19, 1892 special Christmas ad in the New Orleans Item. Emile Commander’s Palace Saloon was the most substantial restaurant in the city’s Fourth District. Commander avoided publicity he opened his Palace Saloon. The one dish cited in early advertisements was “Bayou Cook Oysters.” Commander enjoyed thirteen years of success and public recognition.
In summer of 1906, Emile Commander began to suffer respiratory difficulties. He died in Wales on a voyage intended to aid in his recuperation. His body was returned to New Orleans and interred. The Palace passed to other members of his family.
SOURCES: “Building Permits,” New Orleans Item (November 20, 1892), 2; “A Merry XMAS,” New Orleans Item (December 19, 1892), 3; [Petition to serve alcohol at Commander’s Palace]. New Orleans Item (February 14, 1893), 7; [Emile Commander ad], New Orleans Item (November 24, 1893), 5; [Obituary notice] “Emile Commander,” Times-Picayune (August 28, 1906), 4;