From ‘breakfast at Brennan’s‘ to the grocery store, restaurant group expands its bakery

If you’ve had the eggs Hussarde or eggs Benedict at the landmark Brennan’s Restaurant, you’ve had the English muffins that baker Drew Pope and his crew make. Ditto the buns, baguettes and ciabatta at Napoleon House, Ralph’s on the Park and Redfish Grill, and the pastries in the case at Café NOMA.

These are all part of the Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, one branch of the city’s best-known restaurant family, and it runs some famous local spots.

Much less known is its in-house baking operation, Ralph Brennan Bakery. It supplies the restaurants, and during Carnival season its line of king cakes are in wide distribution, though otherwise the bakery has had no street presence.

That changed as of last weekend, however, and could go further.

Ralph Brennan Bakery now has a line of nine bread and pastry items packaged and distributed for the retail grocery shelf. The first store to carry them is Acquistapace’s Supermarket in Covington.

That’s not a coincidence. The northshore grocer was an early adopter of Brennan’s king cakes, and moves many of them in Carnival season.

Pope, who is bakery chef for Ralph Brennan Bakery, says the king cake side of the business is driving this new retail move.

At Carnival, the bakery ramps up to full capacity, hiring many more staff and producing upwards of 30,000 king cakes through the variable length of the season.

Using more of the bakery’s potential, and keeping more of that seasonal staff working here, is part of the retail push now, Pope explained.

“We see this is a way to develop relationships we have through king cake,” Pope said.

First breads, pastries

The bakery is housed in a nondescript building in Gert Town, amid warehouses, workshops and float dens just off Earhart Boulevard. It doesn’t have a retail storefront, but instead with this  debut at Acquistapace’s the bakery will look to expand to other outlets.

Almond croissants have crisp ridges, and a flavorful filling; the ciabatta has an airy inner crumb crust with a bit of pull.

There’s “French bread,” though this is not New Orleans French bread po-boy shop. Instead, it’s another entry into the New Orleans roster of Parisian-style baguettes. This one has a softer outer crust and toasty, malty inner chew.

These are the same breads and pastries used across the restaurant groups menus. That goes for the English muffin that is the foundation of egg dishes that are emblematic of the “breakfast at Brennan’s” tradition, alongside eye-opener cocktails. How they’re used at home, of course, may vary by household.