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Réveillon (R)evolution
Réveillon (R)evolution
How a forgotten French Catholic holiday tradition was brought back from oblivion and transformed for modern diners
By Alexandra Kennon
It’s hard to imagine that New Orlea nians would allow a tradition as indulgent and impractical as a 2 am Christmas Eve feast to fall into the forgotten past. And yet, in the decades leading up to the 1980s, the history of Réveillon dinners was nearly lost entirely.
But long before Réveillon nearly slipped from New Orleans’ collective consciousness, and longer before the savvy historians and marketers of the 1980s teamed up to transform the tradition into a special holiday restaurant experience, the original notion of a Réveillon dinner was quintessentially New Orleans—meaning it was French, Catholic, and decadent.
Though Réveillon is well-suited to the Crescent City, the tradition extended— and in some places still extends—far beyond Louisiana and throughout the French-cultured world and parts of the Spanish-influenced world, as well. Evidence points to Réveillon dinners once held in France, Belgium, Brazil, Quebec, New York City, Detroit, and even San Francisco—anywhere French Catholics lived, even in small pockets. Catholic families in the nineteenth century (and some historians believe long prior, perhaps even back to the Medieval period) would fast all day on Christmas Eve leading up to a Midnight Mass service. Following the mass, families would break their fast with a grand multi-course feast that often including egg dishes, a daube glacé (or jellied meat tourine), and rounded out with wines, towering displays of cakes and desserts, and coffee or brandy.
According to Ann Masson, New Orle ans-based architectural historian and historic preservationist who has previ ously served as director of the Preserva tion Resource Center, director of Gal lier House, president of the BK Historic House, and faculty member/professor at the Tulane School of Architecture and Masters of Historic Preservation pro grams, the French word “Réveillon” itself means “revive” or “wake up.”
“It originally had a spiritual meaning in that early on, people spent the Christ mas Eve day in fasting or prayer or chant ing,” Masson explained. “And then the day would culminate in the Midnight Mass, after which they would have a kind of earthly reawakening in that they would eat and drink and be merry and have this party, but it was really a spiri tual awakening to the birth of Christ.”
By some accounts, the tradition of pri vate Réveillon dinners following Mid night Mass remained in New Orleans through the 1800s, surviving in some homes as late as the 1930s. The modern American emphasis on the kids waking up to find Santa’s gifts on Christmas morning, Masson said, did not take hold until the 1940s with World War II— meaning the adults were able to indulge in the late night Christmas Eve tradition and sleep in the following day.
Masson recalled once speaking with French Quarter couple Henry and “Peachy” Villerie, whose families had each lived in the city since the French colonial period. Henry had grown up on Esplanade Avenue in a home where French was routinely spoken, and had vivid recollections of his family’s Christ mas Eve Réveillon dinners when he was a child.
“And so he knew all about the Réveil lon, and told us all about what it was like, and how they did it, and when, and why, and all those things,” Masson recalled. “Which was just such a treat to have a really firsthand account of it.”
Photos of Arnaud’s restaurant, which hosts a fairly traditional version of the Réveillon each year. Photos by Brian Huff, courtesy of Arnaud’s.
While New Orleanians like Villerie recalled Réveillon as a Christmas Eve tra dition, there were various periods of the nineteenth century in French-populated areas globally, including in New Orleans, where Réveillon was interpreted as a New Year’s Eve celebration.
“And so apparently, the home [Christ mas Eve] tradition continued kind of underground, while the big festivity, the idea of the Réveillon, got transferred to New Year’s Eve,” Masson mused. “And I don’t quite understand how that hap pened, but it happened.”
While it seems the practice of private Réveillon dinners continued in some homes, restaurants at the turn of the cen tury started advertising “Réveillons” as flashy New Year’s Eve affairs. “And then there starts this deluge of announce ments. There are people’s anniversary party Réveillons, there are debut party Réveillons on New Year’s Eve. There are all kinds of Réveillons on New Year’s Eve,” Masson said of her archival research on the tradition’s practice in the early twentieth century.
“And then, the word suddenly just dis appears.”
By the 1980s, it was rare for those who grew up in and around New Orle ans to even know what a Réveillon din ner was, let alone for their families to host them. “When this idea came up, it was like, ‘Oh, I lived here my whole life … but I didn’t know that this was a din ing tradition.’ And I would venture that most of the other people didn’t either,” said Sandra Dartus, who was Executive Director of French Quarter Festivals, Incorporated (FQFI) when efforts began to revive Réveillon in restaurants in the 1980s.
At that time, New Orleans was no lon ger widely-regarded as a holiday destina tion. “New Orleans was basically empty in December, it was one of our slowest periods [of the year]. And we needed to do something to increase tourism,” Dartus recalled. “And we felt like we are one of the most cultural cities, and cer tainly one of the most European cities, in the country, and we didn’t have to do things like big, sparkly Christmas trees or make up things, because there were customs and traditions that surround us every day, like, Papa Noël,—the Santa Claus—and the Réveillon dining custom.”
Historians and marketing professionals have a particularly symbiotic relationship in New Orleans, and Réveillon’s mid-1980s revival is the result of just such a collaboration. Masson recalled a meeting in the early ‘80s where historians from several French Quarter museums and historic organizations gathered to pool their research on local historic Christmas traditions. “You have to remember, in those days, you had to look up things unindexed on microfilm until you could find a newspaper ad or anything, right? So, the research was rather precious at the time,” she said. “I think it was at that meeting that the idea of the Réveillon was brought up. And I couldn’t tell you whose pile it was in, but I think that was the first time I heard about it.”
With Réveillon, Dartus and the rest of the folks at FQFI knew they had the authentically historic, European cen terpiece for their “A Creole Christmas” marketing campaign (which has since been changed to “Holidays New Orleans Style”)—if they could just bring Réveil lon into the twenty-first century. “Why can’t we adapt it to today’s terms? No one is going to go home after Midnight Mass and have these fabulous, sumptuous din ners in their homes. But we have all these restaurants who need the business just like the hotels needed the business during that period,” Dartus said.
The team started contacting local restaurants and chefs, asking them to create menus inspired by the historic feasts. “So, we just asked the restaurants to work with us on creating menus that were appropriate, that would have or might have been served then." Dartus said, laughingly pointing out that today’s chefs seldom want to make daube glacée. “And it created something special for people.” The concept was an immediate success. According to Masson, Mister B’s Bistro was the first restaurant to offer a Réveillon menu in 1986.
“All of it was in the French Quarter, and very traditional,” Masson recalls of the first years of the restaurant-ver sion of Réveillon, when menus had to be approved by a committee as histori cally-reflective of the tradition’s origins.
“And then after a while, other restau rants in the city wanted to get into it.” In 2003, FQFI removed the menu-approval requirement, inviting new concepts and restaurants to be part of the tradition, too.
Restaurants serving cuisines beyond Creole and Cajun, like Mexican and Vietnamese restaurants, were (and still are) able to participate in offering more contemporary takes on Réveillon menus.
“But actually, the Vietnamese commu nity already had Réveillon [history], because of the French connection,” Mas son pointed out.
Most restaurants who participate in Réveillon these days fall somewhere in between—they embrace the clas sic indulgence that Réveillon’s history inspires, while incorporating a contemporary edge.
“That’s kind of our menu philosophy for everything, you know, modern classics, and some things that that are more creative and inventive, and that’s what we carried on with the Réveillon,” said Richard Hughes, executive chef at the Pelican Club, which has offered a Réveillon menu during the holidays since the early days of its return.
Photos of Arnaud’s restaurant, which hosts a fairly traditional version of the Réveillon each year. Photos by Brian Huff, courtesy of Arnaud’s.
At the time that we spoke, Hughes was putting the final touches on the Pelican Club’s 2022 Réveillon menu. “Planning a menu, I try to hit on all the kind of key points, categories. And then within each category, I can kind of interpret it how I want to, and I try to have just kind of a broad stroke, have a nice balance between old and new,” he said. “And there’s always a few dishes, where we just throw caution to the wind.”
This year, one of The Pelican Club’s “throw caution to the wind” selections has manifested as housemade beet rav ioli with gorgonzola and brown but ter-roasted walnuts. Another more tra ditional offering, leaning deep into the indulgent spirit of Réveillon, will be a foie gras- and cornbread-stuffed brace of quail with a pepper jelly glaze, butternut squash, and braised mustard greens— the brainchild of Chef de Cuisine Mark Kaufmann. A trio of duck including duck jambalaya, duck confit, and seared breast; and a filet mignon with a march and du vin sauce also embrace the dec adent past. Over thirty restaurants are offering their takes on Réveillon this year, ranging from New Orleans grand dames like Commander’s Palace and Tujague’s to newer additions like Couvant, Cos tera, and Gianna. Chef Eric Cook at Gris-Gris and Saint John offers a varia tion on the tradition, Mangé Loa, which offers similar holiday menus inspired instead by the annual Voodoo ritual that loosely translates to “feeding of the gods/ spirits”.
While of course today’s Réveillon looks quite different than its historic predecessor, certain core values of the tradition endure—the meals may not take place in homes following Midnight Mass, but they are certainly still festive, lengthy, and indulgent feasts. “It’s a lot longer [than the average dinner]. It’s four courses, and then we throw in lagniappe at the end. So, we do a Maker’s Mark eggnog and you get that complimentary toward the end of your meal,” Hughes said. “And of course, we have our Christmas decorations up so, you know, that kind of lends to the festive spirit….the idea of Réveillon carries it a long way.”
“When we think of the rich culture, traditions, and history of New Orleans— food and family are always at the fore front,” said Emily Madero, current Pres ident and CEO of FQFI. “Whether it was the nineteenth century, or now in the present, we celebrate in the same fashion, gathering to enjoy delicious food from recipes passed down generation by gener ation. That is why traditions like Réveil lon are still so relevant and vibrant in our city, and why FQFI is committed to con tinuing the tradition every year.”
Masson, who was among that first group of historians to rediscover Réveil lon, has thoroughly embraced its cur rent iteration. Since its return to the city over thirty-five years ago, she, her late husband, and Peggy and Errol Laborde would annually choose a different restau rant to enjoy a Réveillon meal each holiday season. She plans to continue embracing Réveillon for years to come.
“I love the Réveillon tradition.” Mas son gushed. “We’ve just been doing this forever. And it’s just a nice way to get together with friends and be a little festive.”
To view the classic and contemporary New Orleans restaurants participating in Réveillon this year and their menus, visit holiday. neworleans.com/tradition/ Réveillon-dinners
