Words by Alli Patton

The fine art of familial dining at the South’s most enduring eateries

Under their warm light, too, Kaitlin Crabtree Rodgers can trace her own. Decades of Easter and Mother’s Day luncheons. Her sixth grade graduation. Her wedding reception. Yuletide dinners accompanied by the snap-pop of Christmas crackers and the bright clink of champagne glasses. Today, Rodgers is the establishment’s director of sales, but since 1988, there have been few moments in her life that haven’t, in some way, involved Arnaud’s.

“This restaurant has been a part of my life since I was born,” she tells me. We’re seated in the very dining room that has witnessed many of her major milestones and holiday celebrations. Afternoon light pours past panes of frosted beveled glass and illuminates the last 38 years. On the other side, the French Quarter pulses with the present.

Across the dining room, Rodgers points out the same set of tables that has accommodated her family since she was a baby. She recalls how that spot, once suited for herself and her parents, grew to welcome a little brother, then spouses, and later, the party’s third generation. A family of four has become nine, and counting. But as Rodgers’ circle has been reshaped by the passing of years, Arnaud’s has remained a permanent tether, a family member in its own right.

As we dine, faces familiar to Rodgers shuffle past, and she tells me that they’re here celebrating their own Arnaud’s customs: a mother’s birthday, an anniversary, a special Friday meal just because.

“I get to see people with their kids growing up,” she explains. “They get to see my kids growing up. It feels like everybody in this dining room is family.” She says Arnaud’s feels like coming home.

“It feels like everybody in this dining room is family.”

— Kaitlin Crabtree Rodgers, Arnaud’s

You see, there are restaurants, establishments that fill the belly. Then, there are restaurants, places that become homing beacons, feeding the soul and housing our most precious of memories. The South is full of the former. Arnaud’s is the latter, among the select few old-guard eateries that have transformed mere dining into ironclad tradition.

“That’s special, and it’s so hard to find,” Rodgers says of what Arnaud’s has created among its patrons over the last century.

It’s a singular feat when an establishment can meet the needs and tastes of a family across decades, surviving through ever-evolving trends, fluctuating economies, and most recently, a pandemic. While rare––and becoming increasingly so––there are still a handful of these institutions that have kept multigenerational diners, like Rodgers and her family, coming back time and again.

Just north of New Orleans on Interstate 59, there’s Weidmann’s, which has served the city of Meridian, Mississippi, since 1870. Further northeast is Birmingham, Alabama’s The Bright Star, which will soon celebrate its 120th year of service. Columbia, South Carolina’s Villa Tronco—the oldest restaurant in the Palmetto State—is on its fifth generation of family ownership. While it has changed hands a number of times, Jack Fry’s of Louisville, Kentucky, endures as a Derby Day staple and beyond after nearly 100 years.

It’s not just that these places are time-tested. What they all offer transcends their tenure. Instead, decades long customer loyalty has been earned through consistency, familiarity, and the understanding that tradition never goes out of style.

In an age when restaurants are bending to fads, constantly innovating in an effort to maintain relevance, very little has changed at these tried-and-true establishments––whether it be menus, service rituals, or even the interiors.

At Arnaud’s, the fare is faithful to its signature Creole style, and tuxedoed staff will always be there to guide the experience in a dining room that features many original fixtures. Places like The Bright Star and Villa Tronco hold tight to their respective Greek and Italian dishes and customs. And while Weidmann’s attempted to modernize under one owner, the town of Meridian rallied to restore its beloved restaurant to its former glory when it changed hands once more in 2010.

People are also important in ensuring an establishment’s longevity.

Rodgers and her family often dine with the same server, and she says there are staff members who have come and gone whose presence made Arnaud’s what it is. She remembers how her predecessor, Arnaud’s late director of sales, Lisa Sims, made her family feel like celebrities anytime they walked into the restaurant. It wasn’t uncommon for Sims to pull up a chair and join them in toasting the evening with a glass of bubbly. At The Bright Star, there’s always a hug waiting for all who enter, and at Villa Tronco, treating guests like kin is second nature.

At the end of the day, the backbone of these establishments is tradition, committed not just to their own rituals but to those of each family who takes a seat at their tables.

A restaurant like Weidmann’s isn’t simply its reliable Southern fare. The Bright Star and Villa Tronco provide more than just their dependable service. With each new generation, memories are etched into every corner of these establishments. Meals become lifelines; an eight-top table becomes a home. Rodgers, herself, can trace a lifetime through the halls of Arnaud’s. If we are fortunate enough, these places become a part of us.

Today, as life continues to move at a breakneck pace, when many things feel expendable to progress, and once-indelible traditions begin to fade, it’s these establishments that will hopefully always be there to connect us to our past, nourish us in the present, and guide us back when we need a warm reminder of just where we belong.

Jack Fry’s

Louisville, Kentucky

“Jack Fry’s has always been more than just a restaurant. We are honored to play a small role in our guests’ family traditions, and it’s incredibly rewarding to see those traditions passed from one generation to the next.”

Morgan Polson, Assistant General Manager

The Bright Star

Birmingham, Alabama

“We become family with our customers, and that’s what The Bright Star is all about: family. … When you walk in here, there’s a good chance you’re going to get a hug, whether it’s your first time or your 50th time.”

Sonya Twitty, General Manager

Villa Tronco

Columbia, South Carolina

“Because we’re a family business, we greet our customers, we know our customers, and we treat them like family. We welcome them into the restaurant just as we do our home. … It just warms my heart to see all the people that have enjoyed it and have come back.”

Carmella Roche, Third-Generation Owner

Weidmann’s

Meridian, Mississippi

“We’re not saving lives, but we are a focal point of connections. … You’ve got to create, obviously, good food and service and things like that, but that’s almost secondary to the emotional connections that people have to these establishments.”

Charles Frazier, Owner