[1][2] Severely damaged by flooding after Hurricane Katrina, its 2006 reopening was reported as a significant advance in the rebuilding of the Mid-City area.

[1][3] Angelo Brocato was born in Cefalù, in Sicily, and at the age of 12 became an apprentice at an ice cream shop in Palermo.

[4] Two months later, Brocato's Mid-City neighborhood found itself under five feet of water when the city's flood control systems failed after Hurricane Katrina.

[1][8] In 2007, the Chef John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University gave the staff and owners of Brocato's its Lafcadio Hearn Award, which "honors individuals who have had a long-term, positive influence on Louisiana and U.S. cuisine and culture".

[9] In the pilot episode of the HBO television series Treme, set in New Orleans three months after Hurricane Katrina, the character Creighton Bernette declines an offer of lemon ice at another (fictional) restaurant, saying that he would feel disloyal to eat lemon ice anywhere else while Brocato's was still closed.