Ella Brennan, the woman who put New Orleans on the culinary map and mentored some of the country’s greatest chefs, also made an impact on the Houston dining scene with Brennan’s of Houston, the restaurant her family founded in 1967.

She had great affection for the Bayou City, where her unique brand of haute Creole cuisine continues to make its mark.

“Mom was very much an admirer of Houston and its what-have-you-done-lately spirit,” said Brennan’s son, Alex Brennan-Martin, president of Brennan’s of Houston. “She said ‘in New Orleans they talk about it, in Houston they do it.’ She always liked Houston because it was a can-do city.”

When she died Thursday at 92, the lights at Brennan’s iconic Commander’s Palace in New Orleans were dimmed to acknowledge a life in the hospitality business that began in 1943 when her older brother, Owen Brennan, put her to work at his Old Absinthe House bar on Bourbon Street. She got her first shot in the restaurant industry when Owen and their father purchased Vieux Carré across the street in 1946. She helped turn that unremarkable eatery into a restaurant known for its food, wine and service.

The Brennan family’s fame grew exponentially with the opening of Brennan’s in May 1956, the restaurant that brought national attention and Hollywood glamour to the French Quarter. Though its debut was colored by Owen’s death six months prior, Ella Brennan and her family made Brennan’s a hit, and for years, it defined New Orleans dining and popularized Bananas Foster, the restaurant’s best-selling dessert that Ella Brennan helped create at Vieux Carré.

Her involvement at Brennan’s ended in 1973 when she was fired following a power struggle with Owen’s widow, who with her sons controlled 52 percent of the business. The split was devastating to Brennan — but there was a remarkable second act to come.

She and her sister, Adelaide, had purchased Commander’s Palace in 1969, and they set out to transform the restaurant into the dining powerhouse it is today. Her championing of the city’s indigenous cuisine and the chefs she brought in to execute her vision of fine dining — including Paul Prudhomme and Emeril Lagasse — remain her legacy.

In the split with Brennan’s, Ella Brennan and her family took control of three Brennan’s restaurants outside of New Orleans, including Houston’s.

Alex Brennan-Martin said his mother applied her same exacting standards to the Houston restaurant, where she also mentored chefs.

Chris Shepherd, who won the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest in 2014 for his work at Underbelly, is among the chefs who passed through the Brennan’s of Houston kitchen. In an Instagram post following Brennan’s death, Shepherd wrote: “Words cannot express my gratitude for what the family has done for me and everyone you touched. Ella, you changed a lot of lives and we are all better for being in yours. You will be missed but your lessons about this industry will live on forever.”

While largely out of the public eye at the time of her death, Brennan continued to be a presence on the New Orleans dining scene.

Two years ago she released a memoir, written with her daughter Ti Martin, that traced the remarkable life of an Irish Channel-born girl who possessed no cooking skills but played a major role in making New Orleans a world-class dining destination. “Miss Ella of Commander’s Palace” was published about the same time that the documentary “Ella Brennan: Commanding the Table” was released. The latter screened at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

“She can’t really boil water,” said Lagasse in 2015. But, he said, “She’s one of the greatest restaurateurs I’ve ever met. She has an incredible palate and an even more incredible mind. And she just has this way with people, of leading and showing the way of exceptional hospitality.”

Brennan summed up her life’s experience in 2015: “I had a barrel of fun, and if anybody calls that work they’re crazy.”

greg.morago@chron.com

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