Since the inception of their debut eatery, Costera on Prytania St., Reno De Ranieri, and Chef Brian Burns have been making an impression on the New Orleans dining scene creating exotic menus with Italian and Spanish influences and combining a love for impeccable food with extraordinary wine and atmosphere.
Their third restaurant, Brutto Americano, is the latest addition to the pair’s portfolio. The new Italian-inspired restaurant is located at 600 Carondelet St. at the Barnett Hotel and offers a menu that includes fresh Gulf seafood, pasta, and steak.
Burns is from Chicago and moved to New Orleans to attend Tulane. He also attended culinary school at the École Supérieure de Cuisine Française, now known as Ferrandi Paris. He has worked in the New Orleans restaurant scene at Herbsaint and served as chef de cuisine at Pêche Seafood Grill.
De Ranieri worked at Cuvee before taking a position at Herbsaint, where he and Burns met. Along with Costera, he and Burns own Osterio Lupo, a restaurant on Magazine St. that highlights Northern Italian cuisine. Brutto Americano is the team’s first concept in the CBD.
Brutto Americano was born Burns and De Ranieri’s desire to share their cuisine with a new audience. Because Costera and Osterio Lupo are located Uptown, they draw a robust local clientele. This new spot in the CBD will allow visitors to try Burns and De Ranieri’s food.
“We’ve been blessed to have a tremendous amount of business that is ninety-percent locals,” says Burns. “Reno and I have each spent a decade working downtown so we’re excited to move into the downtown community with a product that we can share with a different piece of the population.”
The Barnett Hotel contacted Burns and De Ranieri about a year ago. Now under the Hyatt umbrella, the hotel wanted a complete rebrand with a restaurant to match.
Burns says, “One thing we knew is, being a hotel restaurant, Brutto Americano was going to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We talked with the Hyatt team about their vision and created something familiar that we can add our own techniques to.”
With the menu, Burns and De Ranieri wanted to highlight the bounty of the Gulf and create dishes that employed fresh produce, especially since the team would be catering to people from outside of New Orleans.
“We wanted to have the latitude to offer up New Orleans flavors in oysters, tuna, shrimp, and snapper—things we take for granted because we live here,” Burns explains. “We wanted to put a spin on them that maybe wouldn’t be thought of as Italian food, but falls into that textbook with straightforward, honest cooking.”
Burns and De Ranieri took a new approach by adding breakfast and lunch, and the pair took it as an opportunity to create Italian-inspired fare that can be enjoyed all day. For example, while the breakfast menu includes typical breakfast selections like steak and eggs, beignets, and yogurt parfait, the lunch and dinner menu include a selection of pasta and small and large dishes made with fresh seafood.
As with Costera and Osterio Lupo, the menu at Brutto Americano was very personal to Burns and De Ranieri, who created the food selections from start to finish.
Burns explains, “We work really well in crafting a menu and thinking about the entire dining experience. We tested the dishes for months so that we would be in a good position on day one to execute the menu. We have high standards and we want to satisfy the customers and ourselves.”
Menu highlights include Roasted Gulf Oysters with smoked chilies, oregano, and parmesan; Seared Gulf Tuna with mint, lemon, and artichoke gremolata; Spaghetti Alla Chittara with Littleneck clams, garlic, and guanciale; Gemelli with crispy roast duck, rosemary, and lemon; Steak Tartare with anchovy, capers, and lavash crackers; and Radiatori with Louisiana blue crab, basil, and jalapeño.
One standout is the Grilled Oyster Romaine Salad, Burns’ take on a Caesar salad. Made with charred Romaine, it’s doused in a house-made Caesar dressing made with anchovies, garlic, cheese, and black pepper and topped with a half dozen cornmeal-fried Gulf oysters. Burns calls the salad the perfect lunch on the go or the perfect starter to any of the accompanying dishes.
Like Costera and Osterio Lupo, Brutto Americano offers an approachable wine list with selections from America and Italy, available by the glass or bottle. De Ranieri’s goal in creating the wine list was to work with small producers in the domestic market, providing accessible options for both wine connoisseurs and casual drinkers.
“We have a smattering of wine from all over the California coast and up to Washington with the same well-balanced, food friendly philosophy,” he explains. “When it comes to the selection, we want to remove any essence of wine being esoteric. It’s part of a meal and we want our guests to feel comfortable with it.”
In addition to delicious food and wine, Brutto Americano will offer stunning views and a unique dining experience with its rooftop dining, which is set to begin in the coming weeks.
Brutto Americano is open for breakfast Monday through Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The restaurant’s full menu is available Sunday through Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
