If you remember Crazy Johnnie’s, you probably remember the “crazy” low prices for steaks, the unfussy, everyman ambience, and, most likely, the overstuffed filet mignon po-boy, a standard on its menu, sluiced with chunky garlic butter and served with well-seasoned “crazy potatoes.”
Now, that sandwich is making a comeback, the next step in a longer-range plan that could see a new Crazy Johnnie’s restaurant materialize in Metairie.
Mike Landry is related to the family that ran Crazy Johnnie’s, and he brought back Crazy Johnnie branded steak sauce and seasoning late last year. He’s been selling them at the weekly Lafreniere Park Farmers & Arts Market and other venues.
Starting this week Landry and his crew will be serving up filet mignon po-boy too, with sides of potatoes, both at Wednesday’s market in Lafreniere Park (3000 Downs Blvd.) from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. and at the Thursday Market at Kenner City Park (3800 Loyola Dr.) from noon to 6 p.m.
He plans to continue serving the sandwich weekly at both markets.
Manning the grill will be Elroy “Honey” Mayberry, a veteran of the old Crazy Johnnie’s.
“It’s another thing that we can bring back,” Landry said. “If we can master this, and do it right at a market, think of what we can do with our own restaurant.”
The popular response to bringing back the sauces and seasonings spurred Landry to start looking into starting a new Crazy Johnnie's restaurant.
Those plans are progressing, he reports, and he's now working with investors and developers on possible locations in Metairie. He hinted that there could be more than one location in the metro area too.
The original Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House, named for the late Johnnie Schram, started out in 1987 as a neighborhood bar in Metairie’s Fat City area, at 3520 18th St. A simple “steak night” promotion proved so popular that the operation evolved into a full-time restaurant.
Rising beef prices eventually began catching up with the restaurant’s business model, however, and by 2013 Schram was ready to retire. But once regulars heard it would shut down, they turned out in such numbers that Crazy Johnnie’s stayed open for several more months. It eventually shut for good in the spring of 2014.
Lafreniere Park Farmers Arts Market, 3000 Downs Blvd.
Wednesdays, 2-7 p.m.
The Market at Kenner City Park, 3800 Loyola Dr.)
Thursdays, noon-6 p.m.