The house sits on Chestnut Street near U.S. 190, on the east bank of the Bogue Falaya. For a while it was roped off, with a red "NO TRESPASSING" sign and nobody inside. Before that, Annadele's was a brunch spot, a restaurant and an event venue that hosted, in NOLA.com's words, "countless brides and grooms celebrating life's milestone moments."
Now the house has a new name, River Saint Restaurant Hotel & Bar, and it's taking reservations on OpenTable. Chef Pat Gallagher once had a purchase agreement on this house and ran a restaurant and catering business out of it. So River Saint is a cook coming back to a kitchen he already knows, with a menu built on dishes he's been serving around St. Tammany for decades.
A house that has almost always had a kitchen
Annadele's has been reinvented many times, and new owners have usually put food at the center. The timeline below comes from a local history account of the property, NOLA.com's reporting and Gallagher's own company biography.
| Year | What happened at the house |
|---|---|
| 1834 | Built as a West Indian-style estate called Monrepos for Col. Thomas Sully |
| 1889 | Became the summer home of New Orleans Mayor Walter C. Flower |
| 1932 | Acquired by Leon Gibert, who enlarged and altered it |
| 1970 | Gibert's heirs sold it to the McEnery trust |
| 1976 | Linder Schroeder and her parents took possession and spent four years remodeling |
| December 1984 | Annadele's Restaurant held its grand opening, after a private investment group restored the house and created four B&B suites |
| Later years | Pat Gallagher secured a purchase agreement and moved his restaurant and catering operation into the house |
| After the seizure | Vacant and roped off, held under a court order |
| August 2026 | State health inspections under the River Saint name |
| October 2026 | Taking reservations as River Saint |
NOLA.com described the site as having apparently operated continuously as a restaurant since the 1970s under the Schroeder family. The same article adds a detail most people driving past on 190 have never heard: 19th-century Northshore settlers once planned to start a town on this land that would compete with Covington.
Robin Perkins, the St. Tammany Clerk of Court's archivist, told NOLA.com the house "still has some original touches throughout," adding, "I love the little bitty staircases."
The long dark stretch was the exception in this house's history. A restaurant was the usual state of things.
How the house went dark
The quiet period started with a court order. NOLA.com reported that 22nd Judicial District Judge Alan Black ordered the property seized and held against about $6 million of its owner's debts. Under the order it would be appraised and then sold to the highest bidder. Summit Investments, a Colorado firm that had bought up the debt, asked the sheriff to handle the sale.
At the time, nobody had appraised the house. NOLA.com noted that because of its unusual history, people in the local market were wary of guessing what it was worth. No public account yet explains how the house went from that court order to Gallagher.
Pat Gallagher's first time through the door
Gallagher has been cooking on the Northshore for close to five decades. According to Gallagher's Group, he opened his first restaurant, The Winner's Circle, in the heart of Folsom in 1978. He moved it twice, the second time to a new building on Highway 190, and ran it there until 1991. During those years he was also a managing partner at the old Bechac restaurant on the Mandeville lakefront, which was renovated and renamed the Camelia Beachhouse.
He spent part of the 1990s running restaurants in Natchez, Mississippi. Then the family came back to St. Tammany, and he opened Gallagher's Restaurant & Bar on Highway 190, plus Gallagher's on the Lake, a 150-seat catering space at the foot of the Causeway. The Annadele's chapter started there. His biography says he "secured a purchase agreement for Annadelle's Plantation," and about a year later moved both the restaurant and the catering operation into the house next to the Bogue Falaya. He had two partners then.
In April 2015 he purchased a second location near the Causeway, Pat Gallagher's 527 Restaurant & Bar at 527 Causeway Blvd. in Mandeville. River Saint is his second stint running the kitchen on Chestnut Street.
The menu came back with him
You can see the return in the food. Gallagher's biography says his family and staff have sold Crab Cakes, Pecan Catfish Meuniere and Seafood Mirliton Casserole at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival for the past 20 years. OpenTable's description of River Saint's menu reads like a sit-down version of that booth, with the same pecan meuniere treatment and Chef Pat's oyster dressing listed by name:
- Starters: crispy Oysters River Saint and Eggplant Bogue-Falaya
- Soups: Creole turtle soup and seafood and andouille gumbo
- From the Gulf: Gulf Fish Pecan Meuniere and Blackened Redfish Courtbouillon
- From the grill and oven: a 16-ounce ribeye, roasted rack of lamb, and quail filled with Chef Pat's oyster dressing
- Desserts: Bananas Foster, white chocolate bread pudding and beignets
Two dishes are named for where they're served, Oysters River Saint and Eggplant Bogue-Falaya, which ties the menu to the house and the river it sits beside. OpenTable lists the restaurant as American, priced at "$30 and under." It also describes multiple cozy dining rooms and double bars inside the 1834 mansion. Early reviews there rate it five stars across nine reviews.
The reopening is a family operation
The public paperwork shows who is behind the restart. Louisiana health inspection records list River Saint at the Chestnut Street address, with a routine inspection on August 27, 2026, and a follow-up on August 28, 2026. The follow-up passed with no violations.
A legal notice in The Advocate shows River Saint Hotel Restaurant and Bar, LLC applying to the state Office of Alcohol & Tobacco Control for a permit to sell high- and low-alcohol beverages. It lists the company's members as Eugene Patrick Gallagher and Chyrl Gallagher. Chyrl is the same Chyrl Weems Stroup that Gallagher's biography says he married during his Natchez years, when they raised four children. During his first run at Annadele's he had two outside partners. This time the company names him and his wife.
His other restaurants are still running. The Gallagher's Grill website lists the Covington restaurant at 509 S. Tyler Street with posted hours and reservation information. Pat Gallagher's 527 lists its Mandeville hours and reservation line too. River Saint adds a third Gallagher dining room to Covington and Mandeville. It doesn't replace either of the other two.
Before you go
A few practical details haven't settled yet, so plan around them:
- Address. OpenTable lists 71518 Chestnutt St. The alcohol-permit notice and the state inspection record use 71495 Chestnut Street. Both point to the house on Chestnut near U.S. 190 and the river, so navigate to the street and look for the mansion.
- Reservations. OpenTable is taking bookings. The restaurant hasn't posted public hours yet, so check availability there before you head out.
- Rooms. OpenTable calls River Saint a restaurant and inn. When Gallagher ran the house before, it had four bed-and-breakfast rooms. Current room bookings and amenities haven't been posted.
- Private events. Gallagher's Group's private events inquiry page now offers "River Saint Hotel" as a venue option. That matters to anyone who remembers Annadele's as a wedding and party house.
Here at Amanda Stevens Property Group, we love seeing a landmark like this lit up again. Places like River Saint are part of what we mean when we talk about knowing Covington street by street. If you live near Chestnut Street or anywhere along the Bogue Falaya and you're wondering what your own home is worth, Request a Free Market Consultation and we'll walk you through it step by step.
