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The names of each of
the dining rooms at Antoine's
Restaurant are steeped in history:
Mardi Gras has been the premier attraction in
New Orleans since 1857, just a few years after
the birth of Antoine's. Four of our
private rooms bear the names of 4 of our
Carnival krewes
-- Rex, Proteus, Hermes, and
12th Night Revelers
.
 Roy
Alciatore, Antoine's proprietor for nearly 40
years, created the Rex Room
in recognition of "The Krewe Of
Rex" -- its King reigns over
our Mardi Gras celebration in New
Orleans. To this day, the Rex
Room serves and perpetuates one of
America's great institutions - Mardi Gras.
Its walls are adorned with photos of royalty and
memorabilia, including crowns and scepters of
many years long past.
A photo of the Duke and Duchess of
Windsor is exhibited outside the Rex
Room The couple was in New Orleans 13
years after the Duke, as Edward VIII, abdicated
as King of England "to marry the woman I love "
-- American-born Wallis Warfield
Simpson. The couple dined at Antoine's
during Mardi Gras of 1949.
 The
vast, glistening main dining room is
located just past the first dining room at the
entrance, and is named the Large
Annex
. It has been a local favorite
for decades. Many New Orleans
families have had the same waiter for
years.
The Japanese
Room
was designed with Oriental
motifs popular at the turn of the
century. All of the decorations,
down to the hand-painted walls and ceilings,
spoke of things Japanese. Many large
banquets were held there until December 7, 1941
when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor to usher
the United States into World War II. Roy
Alciatore then closed the room and it remained
closed for 43 years. It
was reopened in 1984 and brought back to
its original splendor with beautiful
handpainted wallpaper in the design of a rose
trellis.
The
Roy Alciatore Room
was formerly the
Capitol Room ... so named because the
wooden panels on the walls were taken from the
old capitol building in Baton Rouge. This
room has a twin next door, Maison Verte.
Both rooms are almost identical in size and
decor, with lush deep-pile green carpets and
four black marble fireplaces, two in each room.
 The
Mystery Room
acquired its name due to
Prohibition, the 18th
Amendment prohibiting the sale of alcoholic
drinks (from 1919 until 1933). It covered the
era of the bootlegger and the Al Capone reign of
terror in Chicago. During this time,
some would go
through a door in the ladies' restroom to a
secret room and exit with a coffee cup full of
booze (in spite of the Blue Laws).
The
protocol phrase at table when asked from whence
it came was: "It's a mystery to me." The name
stuck and to this day, it's still the Mystery
Room, nestled charmingly at the end of an
interesting corridor. The room is dotted with
souvenirs of famous restaurants around the
world, including Groucho Marx's
beret.
The 1840
Room, fashioned in the style of the
period, is a charming salon for dining.
Photographs of successive generations of the
Alciatore family also dot the room and add to
the richness of the warm, red interior. It
replicates a fashionable dining
room from that time and is
also a museum of sorts,
housing a Parisian cookbook
circa 1659, and the restaurant's silver
duck press among other
treasures.
The Proteus Room
is named
for the old-line Carnival krewe, and the
Hermes room is where five American presidents
have dined. The Veranda Room is
painted flat red .... and the Art Gallery Room
is decorated with many fine
paintings.
The
long and narrow Wine Cellar, which
measures 165-feet long and 7-feet wide, holds
approximately 25,000 bottles when fully
stocked. It is legendary, with marvelous
vintages from the Bordeaux and Burgundy
regions. One can feel the history
when observing the vast
selection. Wines are dispensed by
knowledgeable waiters who are quite adept at
making recommendations.
| Please Note:
Although many dining rooms are
available to accommodate our guests, some dining rooms are not available at this time.
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Reservations
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