A Pompano Dinner at Denechaud’s, Every Saturday (July 15, 1871), 68.
Edward F. Denechaud (1832-1916)
The restless and entrepreneurial restaurateur and hotelier arrived in Louisiana with his family in 1838 from Bordeaux. His father, a dry goods merchant, apprenticed him in the kitchen of La Cadeau Bleau. Edward and brother August were orphaned in their teens when their father was killed on a business trip to Mexico. He opened his first restaurant in New Orleans on Union at age nineteen on the eve of the Civil War. Its success prompted him to open a branch business in Vicksburg and another in Mobile. The collapse of credit in 1861 forced him to close all three enterprises. During the War he served in the French Guard. After the armistice, he worked as a commission agent in Mobile, until tempted to return to Louisiana upon hearing that one of the great lake resort venues had come open.
In 1869 He took control of the Washington Hotel at Lake Pontchartrain. In the following year he erected The Great Pavilion at the lake resort, a vast open air confectionary, intended especially for the entertainment of “ladies and their escorts.” He inaugurated the long-lived tradition of entertaining lake guests with music, hiring Charles Jaeger’s Brass and String Band to serenade diners in the afternoons. The Lakeside banquets proved splendid enough to be newsworthy. A military reunion of 1870: “ Denechaud’s mahogany groaned under the most exquisite dishes, and the red Bordeaux, the white Sauterne and foaming Champagne filled the crystal goblets in boundless profusion. Denechaud is one of the prince of caterers in Louisiana.”
His connections with Mobile based fisherman insured that he had regular supplies of red snapper, black grouper, Spanish mackerel, and pompano. Success stimulated ambition, and in 1875 he reestablished himself in the city, opening two restaurants: one on St. Louis Street, the other on Carondelet. Running three hospitality ventures overtaxed his finances. In 1876 Denechaud was forced to close the St. Louis Street restaurant and divest himself of his properties on the Lake. Denechaud’s Restaurant at 8 Carondelet he kept open, offering meals on the first floor, private dining on the second, and lodging on the third. His skill as a caterer drew enough custom to eat away at his debts, and be 1880, his credit in the city had become entirely restored. Modeling his establishment on the famous French eatery “Trois Freres Proveneaux” he offer fixed price menus for breakfast and dinner.
In 1882 his imagination turned again to the resorts. He took over management of the West End Hotel and Restaurant, and found the experience so stimulating that he determined to open his own hostelry in New Orleans in time for the Cotton Centennial and Industrial Exposition in 1884-85. Hotel Denechaud opened on December 4, 1884 at the corner of Perdido and Carondolet. Its ground floor contained an oyster stand, bar, and lunch room. The second floor, a frescoed salle à mange for dining. After 1885 E. F. Denechaud’s engagement with cuisine extended exclusively to civic banquets. He trained his sons to be hotel managers rather than caterers, and the food in his restaurants fell into the hands of hired French-trained chefs. He retired in 1902, turning over his empire to his family. He died of old age in his home in the Garden District in 1916. [Times-Picayune 7-11-1869, 7-7-1870, 9-16-1875, 10-14-1875, 10-18-1882, 12-4-1884, 3-17-1916 (obit)