The Old Coffee Pot Closes, After 125 Years and a Gordon Ramsay Takedown

It was the subject of an unsparing summer episode of “Gordon Ramsay’s 24 Hours to Hell and Back,” and now iconic French Quarter breakfast restaurant The Old Coffee Pot has closed after nearly 125 years on St. Peter Street.

Known for serving Cajun and Creole breakfast classics like the regionally-specific Calas (a sweet fritter somewhere between a beignet and a buttermilk drop), The Old Coffee Pot struggled in recent years despite its prime location next to renowned bar Pat O’ Brien’s and blocks from tourism mecca Jackson Square. Owner Dustin Palmisano, who took over the restaurant six years ago after being a waiter there, posted to Facebook on February 12 that the cafe’s run was over, racking up over 200 comments lamenting the loss.

The episode of Gordon Ramsay’s show featuring The Old Coffee Pot aired last June, garnering attention for a clip of Ramsay finding a dead mouse in a toaster. At that time, Palmisano said he was just three months from closure. Customer reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp seemed to improve a few months after the show’s overhaul of the restaurant, but apparently the intervention wasn’t enough to save the longtime establishment.

Ramsay was back in town last fall for another episode of 24 Hours to Hell and Back featuring the Trolley Stop Cafe, which aired in January. Another of Ramsay’s visits to New Orleans resulted in a lawsuit filed last summer in which Oceana Grill alleges that its 2011 Kitchen Nightmares episode contained fabricated footage.

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• Gordon Ramsey Reminds The Old Coffeepot Restaurant That Toasters Are for Bread, Not Mice [ENOLA]
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