cuisine

Bananas Foster with a
Side of the American Dream

For nearly fifty years, Sergio Davini has been a part of what makes breakfast at Brennan's an iconic dining experience.
Story by Bonnie Warren - Photos by Cheryl Gerber
Davini lights one of Brennan's antique gas chandeliers.
Sergio Davini knows a thing or two about living the American dream.

Davini grew up in the coastal city of Viareggio, Italy. “As a young boy, America was just the land of dreams,” he says with a smile. “I never thought I would end up in the place I had only seen in the one movie house near where we lived.”

“Times were hard in Italy during and after World War II. I can still remember the German tanks tearing up the streets as the soldiers rambled into our city. We had many air raids where we would all huddle together and pray that God would spare our lives.”

Life continued to be hard after the war. “Everything was rationed and we got by the best we could. My best memory was going to the movie on Sunday afternoon. There on the screen, I learned about beautiful America where everybody seemed to live in a fine house, drive big cars and wear nice clothes. I even had a vision of what my house in America would look like. As we would stop to get a slice of pizza on the way home, I would sometimes say out loud, ‘Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could go and live in America!’”

Davini’s father began talking about immigrating to America. Unfortunately, his father died unexpectedly of a heart attack, and he and his younger brother Eligio figured it would never happen. “Little did we realize how determined our mother was to make sure our father’s dream would become a reality.”

On a sunny day in 1956 the family traveled to Rome to board a TWA plane. “I was sixteen years old and my brother was fourteen. It was breathlessly exciting to actually be on our way. There were three families and about twenty orphans all headed for New York,” he recalled. “We had no idea where our final destination would be and it really didn’t matter, since all we wanted to do was go and live in America.”

After spending one night in New York, the Davinis were taken to Grand Central Station where they boarded a train and were told they were headed for New Orleans.

“Eligio and I immediately began looking for  work. We  couldn’t speak a word of English and an Italian gentleman we met told us to go over to Ace Bakery and talk to Mr. Iavollassit, the owner whose family had immigrated to New Orleans from Sicily, about a job. He hired us immediately and told us our pay would be thirty dollars for a six-day workweek. He also said we would get one loaf of bread a day and as many day-old donuts as we wished.”

Later the Davini boys heard of a better job at the Merita Baker on Tulane Avenue and Lopez Street where they could make $156 a week. “Wow,” I told Eligio, “now we are really on our way to being a big success. My brother made cakes and I made bread. We moved our mother to a better house on Ursulines Street in Treme and soon saved up enough to go out and purchase a 1958 yellow Chevrolet with green upholstery and a big engine with three carburetors that the salesman told us would go 135 miles per hour. We thought it was the most beautiful car it the whole world.”

All the time Davini was acclimating himself to be the great American success story, he was working hard to learn English. “I would watch television carefully and work on my English every day. Then I began to think about getting a better job.”

“Go over to Brennan’s Restaurant in the French Quarter and see if you can get hired,” a friend told him. “The pay is good and you can have a real career as a waiter.”
“I was nineteen years old and I thought I had arrived the first day I went to work at Brennan’s.”

That was half a century ago, and in the decades to follow Davini would hone his craft to become part of the incomparable service that elevates Brennan’s celebrated cuisine to an experience that has become one of the iconic American dining events.

Ted Brennan, an owner of Brennan’s, is quick to point out that Davini has been an ideal member of the restaurant’s service staff. “Any restaurant would be proud to have him on its staff, “ Brennan said. “He is an absolute professional in every way, and you know when he comes to work that he is going to do a great job. Most of all, he has proudly stated over the years that being a waiter at Brennan’s has been a great profession for him.”

For Davini professionalism has always been the watchword of his work. “I have made a great living working at Brennan’s,” he said. “I am proud to be a professional waiter, although I know there is also a need for the waiters who may be working while they are in school, or just trying to earn extra money to help their families.”

Now the senior waiter at Brennan’s, Davini summed up his career by saying, “I never regretted one minute coming to work at Brennan’s. It has been a wonderful career for me. I have waited on famous people such as Paul Newman and his wife Joanne Woodward, and Kirk Douglas will always be remembered as one of my favorite customers because he treated me like his new best friend.

“Yes, my father would be proud that his family was able to prove that America is the land of opportunity.”

DETAILS. details. DETAILS.

Brennan’s Restaurant
 417 Royal St
New Orleans, La.
(504) 525-9711
www.brennansneworleans.com