As a resident of Lecompte I really want Lea's Lunchroom (better known as Lea's Pies) to succeed. I really want it to thrive ... I really do, Because of this, I will give a quick and honest review.
If you go to Lea's for breakfast, you will leave a happy camper. Their simple breakfast plates are great and their biscuits and gravy are amazing.
If you show up between ten and eleven in the morning ... turn around and walk out. All you can order is the world's worst ham sandwich. Whatever you do, never order this.
Lunch at Lea's is just okay. Nothing to brag about.
Lea's is known all over Louisiana for their pies ... which are good, but not great.
You may be asking yourself why I'm being so hard on Lea's? The answer is, very simply, to urge the once great restaurant to work harder to try to regain the quality it once had. I feel the resurgence of this once vibrant town's status hinges on it. If Lecompte is to ever pull itself out of decline, the success of Lea's is critical.
Here is some history:
From Lea's Website:
Our country was nearing the end of a notorious decade that would come to be known as the Roaring Twenties. The decade belonged to speakeasies and bathtub gin, Ford’s Model “T” automobile, the first transatlantic flight and rise of the motion picture. Because of the success of our involvement in the Great War, American industry expanded at an unheard of rate. Anything seemed possible. Anything could be done. No matter how bad life could get you down, with a little ingenuity, some determination and a heaping helping of hard work, a man could do anything.
Before the Great Depression, before the Second World War, before air conditioning, television, all-you-can-eat salad bars or the Internet, there was Lea’s Lunchroom. At first glance, it really wasn’t much to look at…just a small town diner located on a busy state highway with what can only be described as a limited menu at best: Ham sandwiches, a special-of-the-day plate lunch, strong Louisiana coffee and homemade pies. Years later, Mr. Lea, as he was often called, would say there wasn’t any sense in a menu. That would just waste time. In his eyes, if the food is good enough, people will return.
And return they did…time and time again. Ask any patron of Lea’s to describe their favorite thing about the restaurant and most will likely tell tales of coconut crème, chocolate or pecan pies. But underneath it all, what they really appreciate is the consistency. No matter what happened, one could always count on a delicious, hearty meal from Lea’s. Chances are the chocolate pie you enjoyed at Lea’s as a child in the early 1970s was an exact replica of the pie your grandfather enjoyed in the 1930s.
And return they did…time and time again. Ask any patron of Lea’s to describe their favorite thing about the restaurant and most will likely tell tales of coconut crème, chocolate or pecan pies. But underneath it all, what they really appreciate is the consistency. No matter what happened, one could always count on a delicious, hearty meal from Lea’s. Chances are the chocolate pie you enjoyed at Lea’s as a child in the early 1970s was an exact replica of the pie your grandfather enjoyed in the 1930s.
Lea Johnson never intended to create a landmark restaurant. Lea’s parents were plantation owners. In addition to tending to crops, the Johnson family also raised hogs. According to Lea’s grandson Toby Traylor, this was where the seeds of Lea’s Lunchroom were planted.
It all started in 1928 in Johnson’s native Cheneyville, just a few miles down the road from the restaurant’s current location. Trained as an auto mechanic, Johnson tired of the long, hot hours of automobile repair work and decided to do something different. Acting on a hunch, Johnson traded one car for two countertops, five stools, one coal-oil stove and a coffee pot. Not long after, he hired a skinny, redheaded, seventeen year old high school graduate, who he called Miss Georgie, to sell coffee and popcorn and manage the café. In 1939, Lea married Miss Georgie because, as he jokingly liked to say, he was tired of paying her $4 a week salary. Meeting, hiring and marrying Miss Georgie soon proved to be a serendipitous moment for the restaurant because it was from her side of the family that the pie recipes originated.
“I told Miss Georgia,” said Johnson, “that we were going to serve one kind of sandwich.” His now famous ham sandwich consists of a combination of sliced, home-baked ham and ground ham plus lettuce, tomato and pickle. The only other items are a plate lunch with three choices of meat and locally raised vegetables and of course, the renowned pies. Lea liked to tell his customers he perfected the ham sandwich.
Lea’s Lunchroom bakes 8 different types of pies each morning. The daily flavors include coconut, lemon, chocolate, banana, apple, peach, cherry and the best-selling flavor, pecan. The six seasonal flavors are pumpkin, mincemeat, sweet potato, blueberry, blackberry and dewberry. While baked hams were always Lea’s specialty since the restaurant’s inception, it became apparent that something special was happening with the pies when Lea’s sold over 4,000 pies in less than 26 days in 1963. Since the 1960s, Lea’s estimates they sell around 65,000 pies a year with Thanksgiving being their busiest time of year. Lea’s homemade pies are listed in the Louisiana Hall of Fame and were selected as a favorite by Louisiana Life magazine readers. Click here to order a pie from Lea’s.
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