When 4th Circuit Court of Appeal Judge Edwin A. Lombard was growing up, almost every neighborhood had a great restaurant. 

“This is a great subject matter,” he said during the “2024 Food Forum: New Orleans Restaurants Through History” on Nov. 9. “We would never hear about these restaurants. There were so many places. So many talented people.”

Hosted by the Historic New Orleans Collection and food historian Jessica B. Harris, the Food Forum began in 2010. This year’s forum included a presentation, “The Heart of New Orleans: Black-Owned Restaurants,” by writer and food historian Lolis Eric Elie. He invited Lombard, 78, to talk about a few of his favorite spots.

“I was trying to figure out why Lolis Eric invited me,” Lombard said. Then it hit him. “I’m probably the only guy living who has eaten at all those restaurants.” 

Lombard’s list started with Cafe Roux, “a classy restaurant” on St. Bernard Avenue. It started uptown in Black Pearl with “a lady was selling chicken out of her  house – three pieces of chicken and french fries for 98 cents.” 

At Algiers’ Greystone Voter’s League, the chef’s recipe turned the fried chicken red. He “would never tell anybody the secret.” Lombard added.

Black preachers “of any substance” ate at the Delachaise Street Inn, “especially around election time,” Lombard continued. Davis Restaurant on Franklin Avenue was “one of the finest restaurants ever. It ended up on St. Anthony right behind Dillard University. That was right around the corner from where Olivier’s Creole Restaurant originally started on Dreux Street.” 

In addition to Haye’s Chicken Shack and the Dew Drop Inn, Lombard spoke fondly of Tony’s Green Room, located on the corner of Galvez and Conti streets. “It had a little restaurant downstairs and a hotel by the hour upstairs. It was very safe, very clean,” Lombard said. “It was the first place where Black people could eat pizza.”

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Tammy C. Barney is an award-winning columnist who spent most of her career at two major newspapers, The Times-Picayune and The Orlando Sentinel. She served as a bureau chief, assistant city editor, TV...