Post by tigergirl on Jan 11, 2009 19:54:44 GMT -6
Archie Casbarian, owner of fabled Arnaud's restaurant, dies
by Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune
Sunday January 11, 2009, 5:21 PM
Archie Casbarian, the restaurateur credited with resurrecting one of the oldest, best-known French-Creole restaurants when he took over Arnaud's 31 years ago, died Saturday night of esophageal cancer at a Metairie hospice. He was 72.
Archie Casbarian
Mr. Casbarian was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and educated in that country's British school system. He later graduated from L'Ecole Hoteliere de la Societe Suisse des Hoteliers in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. In the mid 1960s, when a job with Sonesta Corp. brought Casbarian to New Orleans, he had already worked in luxury hotels in Switzerland, Egypt and Curacao, as well as in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Mr. Casbarian rose from assistant general manager of the Royal Orleans Hotel to, by the mid-1970s, a regional vice president in the company, overseeing the Royal Orleans and the Royal Sonesta Hotel, in addition to a property in Houston.
"He was considered in the industry an outstanding hotelier," said Ron Pincus, the vice president and chief operation officer of Hotel Monteleone and a longtime friend. "He was erudite. He spoke five or six languages. He always took a great interest in food and wine."
The Royal Sonesta is across the street from Arnaud's, the restaurant founded in 1918 by a French-born wine salesman named Arnaud Cazenave. By 1978, when Casbarian toured the property with the idea of taking it over from the founder's daughter, Germaine Cazenave Wells, the restaurant was a shadow of its former self.
"I don't want to say anything too disparaging, but it was in disrepair," Pincus recalled.
Billy Wohl, a friend who worked with Casbarian for most of his New Orleans career, remembers "pigeons on the second floor and holes in the roofs."
According to the "Arnaud's Restaurant Cookbook," Casbarian, along with his wife and business partner Jane, invested $2.5 million dollars in the renovation of the sprawling network of connected buildings on Bienville Street.
The physical reconstruction of the restaurant took nearly a year. Diners who arrived for the grand opening on Feb. 29, 1979, found dining rooms lit by chandeliers. They ordered bottles from the beginnings of what would become a very respectable wine list.
The tile floors and etched glass were restored. The menu contained trout meuniere, oysters Rockefeller, brabant potatoes and this message from Arnaud's new proprietor: "Tonight marks the rebirth of a grand and noble restaurant and heralds a new era in the history of a world-famous establishment."
It turns out the restaurant business suited Casbarian.
"He ran Arnaud's like a hotel," said Wohl. "He had sales departments. His chefs were like
managers."
"There was general agreement (Arnaud's) was better than it ever had been under the Cazenaves," said former Times-Picayune restaurant critic Gene Bourg. Casbarian "wasn't just the owner of Arnaud's. He was someone who appreciated everything New Orleans Creole culinary culture represented."
Arnaud's weathered the oil bust and recession of the 1980s, surviving to enter an era when New Orleans restaurants became increasingly well-known nationally.
"He probably ate four or five nights a week at his restaurant," Wohl said. "He basically had lunch there every day."
According to his friends, Casbarian suffered from retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal condition that caused his eyesight to grow progressively worse over the years.
"Everywhere he went in the restaurant he went with Jane on his arm," Pincus said. "The amazing thing is, he never ever complained about his eyesight."
Beyond food and wine, Casbarian had a fondness for cigars and poker -- the four aces he once drew in a game were framed and hung in his office. And the extrovert blended well with local hospitality professionals.
"When Adelaide Brennan was still alive at Commander's, one of her beaus went to Archie and said he wanted Archie to do something special for Adelaide for Thanksgiving," recalled Wohl, referring to the late former co-owner of Commander's Palace. "So Archie had a live turkey delivered to Adelaide with a diamond necklace around its neck."
"There's not too many people who understand hospitality and the restaurant industry in this country as well as Archie," said Jim Funk, president of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.
Jane and Archie Casbarian's children, Archie and Katy Casbarian, followed their parents into the restaurant profession. Today, both serve as vice presidents of their family's restaurant.
In addition to his wife and children, Casbarian is survived by a grandson, Archie Alexander Casbarian, and two brothers.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
by Brett Anderson, The Times-Picayune
Sunday January 11, 2009, 5:21 PM
Archie Casbarian, the restaurateur credited with resurrecting one of the oldest, best-known French-Creole restaurants when he took over Arnaud's 31 years ago, died Saturday night of esophageal cancer at a Metairie hospice. He was 72.
Archie Casbarian
Mr. Casbarian was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and educated in that country's British school system. He later graduated from L'Ecole Hoteliere de la Societe Suisse des Hoteliers in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. In the mid 1960s, when a job with Sonesta Corp. brought Casbarian to New Orleans, he had already worked in luxury hotels in Switzerland, Egypt and Curacao, as well as in New York, Washington D.C., and Los Angeles.
Mr. Casbarian rose from assistant general manager of the Royal Orleans Hotel to, by the mid-1970s, a regional vice president in the company, overseeing the Royal Orleans and the Royal Sonesta Hotel, in addition to a property in Houston.
"He was considered in the industry an outstanding hotelier," said Ron Pincus, the vice president and chief operation officer of Hotel Monteleone and a longtime friend. "He was erudite. He spoke five or six languages. He always took a great interest in food and wine."
The Royal Sonesta is across the street from Arnaud's, the restaurant founded in 1918 by a French-born wine salesman named Arnaud Cazenave. By 1978, when Casbarian toured the property with the idea of taking it over from the founder's daughter, Germaine Cazenave Wells, the restaurant was a shadow of its former self.
"I don't want to say anything too disparaging, but it was in disrepair," Pincus recalled.
Billy Wohl, a friend who worked with Casbarian for most of his New Orleans career, remembers "pigeons on the second floor and holes in the roofs."
According to the "Arnaud's Restaurant Cookbook," Casbarian, along with his wife and business partner Jane, invested $2.5 million dollars in the renovation of the sprawling network of connected buildings on Bienville Street.
The physical reconstruction of the restaurant took nearly a year. Diners who arrived for the grand opening on Feb. 29, 1979, found dining rooms lit by chandeliers. They ordered bottles from the beginnings of what would become a very respectable wine list.
The tile floors and etched glass were restored. The menu contained trout meuniere, oysters Rockefeller, brabant potatoes and this message from Arnaud's new proprietor: "Tonight marks the rebirth of a grand and noble restaurant and heralds a new era in the history of a world-famous establishment."
It turns out the restaurant business suited Casbarian.
"He ran Arnaud's like a hotel," said Wohl. "He had sales departments. His chefs were like
managers."
"There was general agreement (Arnaud's) was better than it ever had been under the Cazenaves," said former Times-Picayune restaurant critic Gene Bourg. Casbarian "wasn't just the owner of Arnaud's. He was someone who appreciated everything New Orleans Creole culinary culture represented."
Arnaud's weathered the oil bust and recession of the 1980s, surviving to enter an era when New Orleans restaurants became increasingly well-known nationally.
"He probably ate four or five nights a week at his restaurant," Wohl said. "He basically had lunch there every day."
According to his friends, Casbarian suffered from retinitis pigmentosa, a retinal condition that caused his eyesight to grow progressively worse over the years.
"Everywhere he went in the restaurant he went with Jane on his arm," Pincus said. "The amazing thing is, he never ever complained about his eyesight."
Beyond food and wine, Casbarian had a fondness for cigars and poker -- the four aces he once drew in a game were framed and hung in his office. And the extrovert blended well with local hospitality professionals.
"When Adelaide Brennan was still alive at Commander's, one of her beaus went to Archie and said he wanted Archie to do something special for Adelaide for Thanksgiving," recalled Wohl, referring to the late former co-owner of Commander's Palace. "So Archie had a live turkey delivered to Adelaide with a diamond necklace around its neck."
"There's not too many people who understand hospitality and the restaurant industry in this country as well as Archie," said Jim Funk, president of the Louisiana Restaurant Association.
Jane and Archie Casbarian's children, Archie and Katy Casbarian, followed their parents into the restaurant profession. Today, both serve as vice presidents of their family's restaurant.
In addition to his wife and children, Casbarian is survived by a grandson, Archie Alexander Casbarian, and two brothers.
Funeral arrangements are pending.
