Ralph Brennan opens new cafe

Ralph Brennan, president of the New Orleans-based Ralph Brennan Restaurant Group, will be honored Saturday night at the National Restaurant Association’s Salute to Excellence with the 2011 Thad and Alice Eure Ambassador of Hospitality award for his work with the NRA Educational Foundation.

In the meantime, he just this month opened a new restaurant, called café b, in Metairie, La. Café b chef Chris Montero, who has been with the Brennan Restaurant Group for 11 years, had developed a menu described in press statements as “elevated neighborhood cuisine, a new American bistro crossed with a gastro pub.”