Courtyard of the 2 Sisters, New Orleans

Sunday and it is time for a Jazz Brunch, and why not? The Courtyard is a famous new Orleans venue that comes at a bit of a price ($29) for a buffet brunch. Service is very attentive, food is excellent, the venue is charming and cool despite the real feel 100 degrees outside. All very pleasant if you have the income to spare and can make the change from the hard core drinking / partying side of the French Quarter. It is very easy to pass by places such as this, diverted by the brashness on the street.

Of course such places have a history that used to set the ambiance of the current business. The website describes it thus:

Though 613 Rue Royale is named for Emma and Bertha Camors, sisters who once owned a notions and fancies shop here, the Court of the Two Sisters has a long and interesting history. 

The lovely three-story building sits on “Governor’s Row,” the 600 block of Royal Street that was once home to five governors, two state Supreme Court justices, a future justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, and a future President of the United States. 613’s own resident was Sieur Etienne de Perier, the royal governor of colonial Louisiana between 1726 and 1733. Such a famous block lent itself to rumors, and it’s said that the outrageous Marquis de Vaudreuil--the colonial governor who turned New Orleans from marshland into a “petit Paris”--also once lived here. 

Emma and Bertha belonged to a proud, aristocratic Creole family; their “rabais,” or notions, outfitted many of New Orleans’ high society women in formal gowns, lace, and perfumes imported from Paris. With a larger courtyard than its neighbors, the residence lent itself to visitors, and the sisters’ shop received many.