38
MY
ROUSES
EVERYDAY
NOVEMBER | DECEMBER 2014
the
Holiday
issue
LEA’S LUNCHROOM
My parents were both Yankees. My mother grew up in Alexandria,
my father in Shreveport. We spent holidays and summers driving
back and forth from New Orleans to see our grandparents. We’d
stop in Livonia for okra gumbo at the Joe Dreyfus Store Restaurant,
or for snacks in Bunkie or Krotz Springs. My favorite place to eat
was always Lea’s Lunchroom.
Lea’s (pronounced Lee’s) is in Lecompte, the Pie Capital of
Louisiana, about 15 miles down the road from Alexandria. The
original Lea’s opened in Chenyville in 1928, and from the very
beginning Lea’s only sold one kind of sandwich: home-baked ham
with lettuce, tomato and pickle.
Lea Johnson, the Lea in Lea’s Lunchroom, moved his restaurant
to Lecompete in 1951. Mr. Lea was a fixture at the restaurant,
and always bragged that he came up with the recipe for that ham
sandwich (he did). It was his wife, Mrs. Georgie, who deserves the
credit for the pies — those recipes came from her side of the family.
Chocolate meringue. Coconut meringue. Lemon meringue. Cherry
double crust. Peach double crust. Pecan. Lea’s bakes eight different
kinds of pies a day.
Even better than going to Lea’s? Having Lea’s hand delivered by my
grandparents every holiday.
My sister Courtney says Christmas was always her favorite
holiday, “Not because of the presents, but because my entire family,
grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, would come to my house
for a big celebration dinner followed by story telling and a whole
family sleepover. Preparation for the evening was always filled with
excitement and anticipation — the table was opened up to fit all of
us and the big red tablecloth was pulled out of the attic. The house
the
Pie’s
the limit
by
Marcy —Rouses Creative Director
smelled like turkey and dressing, all kinds of delicious aromas. Our
grandparents would drive in from Alexandria for the occasion,
and part of the excitement was knowing they were bringing Lea’s
pies for dessert. I would wonder, which flavors will they bring this
year? Will it be chocolate cream, my favorite? Or lemon meringue?
Always there was coconut cream pie because that was the classic
favorite. Sometimes there was pecan. No matter what they brought,
the pie for dessert was always a highlight of Christmas Eve, and it
was always amazing.”
We don’t have family in Alexandria anymore, so there’s no reason to
visit. But occasionally I’ll still get a Lea’s delivery. And on a trip to
Dallas with her kids, my sister made a detour to Lecompte to show
them Lea’s. “It was important to me that they know a part of my
history (and theirs).We took lots of pictures outside, and then we ate
fried catfish platters and pie!”
photo by
Romney Caruso
