Returning Chef Eyes Return to Glory Days

Business
By Bill Walsh
Source: Fauquier Times-Democrat
TUESDAY, APRIL 21 2009

By Bill Walsh

Times-Democrat Staff Writer

Todd Eisenhauer hit the ground running when he joined Napoleon's in January. Many another chef might not been so quick out of the gate, given the building's quirky arrangement of levels and maze-like connections between dining rooms.

But this is an encore appearance for Eisenhauer, who was last here when the 21st century was fairly new. One of his paramount goals is to restore the restaurant to the huge popularity it enjoyed back then.

Eisenhauer left Napoleon's for a five-year stint at Griffin Tavern in Flint Hill, returning when recent Napoleon's Chef Tommy Adrian left for another opportunity.

"This was one of the places where I felt that the owners...had done an injustice by taking it completely to fine dining," Eisenhauer said last week. "It was always set up to have the two different restaurants," he said, and the returning chef and now part owner has been determined to take advantage of the building's challenging construction to restore two — actually, make that three — separate dining experiences.

"When my wife [Liz] and I came in, we decided that we had to make a pub again [on the ground-floor level], so we changed it to Josephine's Pub. We kept the umbrella of Napoleon's...but we wanted to change the concept to let people know we were doing something different."

When he and Liz paid a visit late last year, Eisenhauer came to the ground-floor restaurant "in a T-shirt and jeans," he said, "and I felt uncomfortable. It was all white linens, all preset tables. I sat down and asked for a draft. They didn't have draft."

Josephine's Pub now has a new $8,000 system to provide kegged beer, and it is decidedly more casual, Eisenhauer said. "It has a menu that runs all day long, a little bit of everything. And we made the food service faster, so people can come in, have lunch and get back to work."

Fine dining is still available, else it wouldn't be Napoleon's and there would be no return to the glory days of 67 Waterloo St. The white tablecloths are upstairs, in a section call The French Quarter.

Over last weekend, Eisenhauer opened Waterloo Terrace, the upstairs patio bar which faces Diagonal Street.

"It has a New Orleans theme," Eisenhauer said, "with its own late-night menu," based on New Orleans' most famous sandwich, the muffaletta, with an olive salad that can accompany almost every item on the menu. Liz Eisenhauer has created an original Hurricane recipe — another New Orleans' bar staple, featuring gin, light rum and vodka with just a smidgen of fruit juices — and he makes a sangria that is "outstanding," the chef said.

The outdoor bar will feature music on Friday evenings, with Steve Hagedorn's first set scheduled to start at 5 p.m.

While he is revamping the various menus to accentuate his Southern, Creole and Cajun roots, Eisenhauer said he shares much of departed Gorden Ramsey-trained Chef Tommy Adrian's philosophy about making everything in house, and doing so using the freshest ingredients possible.

He maintains an ongoing relationship with a produce farmer in Rappahannock County, has opened discussions with a Fauquier pork producer, and is eager to talk with other local farmers, he said.

Napoleon's is open Mondays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., moving to 10 p.m. as the weather warms. Waterloo Terrace is open the same hours, with plans to extend even later as summer approaches.

Even with three restaurant experiences under his direction, he and his wife may have more in store for Warrenton in the near future, Eisenhauer said.

Call (540) 347-4300, or go to www.napoleonsrestaurant.com for more information.

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