If you’ve ever found yourself in the Big Easy, AKA New Orleans, then you know that this culture-steeped city is full of good eats. From gumbo to po’boys, many of NOLA’s dishes have attained legendary status, but you may not know that the decadent dessert known as bananas Foster comes from this city as well.

Bananas Foster is a show-stopping dish of sliced bananas simmered in a bath of butter-and-brown-sugar caramel, and then drizzled with rum and set aflame. The dish was invented by legendary French Quarter restaurant Brennan’s in 1951, in honor of New Orleans Crime Commission chairman Richard Foster.

During Foster’s visit to Brennan's, the owner, Owen Brennan, asked his sister, Ella, to create a new dessert for the chairman. Ella grabbed a bunch of bananas, sautéed them, and flambéed them in a nod to baked Alaska, which was served at a rival restaurant, Antoine’s. The dessert was a hit, and remains the restaurant’s best-known dish.