Palace Café Restaurant Renovation

Bar with backlit bottles

About this Project

  • Owner

    Dickie Brennan & Co., L.L.C.

  • Location

    605 Canal Street, New Orleans, LA 70130

  • Designer

    EskewDumezRipple

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The Palace Café opened in 1991 and with the exception of a short hiatus as a result of Hurricane Katrina, has been in continuous operation since. RGGC was selected to work with the design team to provide a complete overhaul of the restaurant. During 8 months of preconstruction, the scope of this project changed multiple times with the project team settling on a 50 day restaurant shutdown. The project involved a 100 percent gut renovation of the kitchen to add all new equipment and create a more open feel to the kitchen area. The second floor dining area was converted to a craft cocktail bar which focuses on rum cocktails and a small plate kitchen with new makeup and exhaust air systems. The dining area received new wood floors, carpet and painted finishes. Additional work included complete replacement of the underground and above ground plumbing systems including replacing the 500 gallon grease trap with a new 1,500 gallon unit. Eight new exhaust hoods were installed, seven in the kitchen and one in the 2nd floor craft cocktail bar. For a two week period, the project worked off of the service generator for power while the main 1,600 amp electrical service was replaced with a 2,000 amp service that required an additional service feed from Entergy. The existing electrical room had to be reconfigured to meet current code requirements that also forced the relocation of a structural cast iron column supporting 4 floors of a load-bearing masonry wall.