Lea’s of Lecompte

Georgie and Lea Johnson’s grandson, Toby Traylor, has continued
the tradition of delivering delcious food and mouth-watering pies
in a casual, down-home atmosphere at the Monroe restaurant.

ARTICLE BY VANELIS RIVERA | PHOTOGRAPHY BY PRAJAL PRASAI

It all started in 1928 in Lecompte, Louisiana. “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,” the lengthy biography published on the restaurant’s website humorously claims. Since then, this small town diner with a limited menu—ham sandwiches, special-of-the-day, Louisiana coffee, and homemade pies—has become the pie capitol of Louisiana and stretched to Monroe in the form of Lea’s of Lecompte, owned and managed by Toby Traylor.

Lea Johnson, the establishment’s namesake, never intended to create a landmark restaurant. His parents were plantation owners, tending to crops and raising hogs. Lea, an established mechanic, grew tired of the long, hot hours of automobile repair work and acted on a hunch. He began to trade cars for restaurant furniture—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” called Miss Georgie to manage the café. In 1939 he married her because, as he jokingly disclosed, “he was tired of paying her a four dollar-a-week salary.” Serendipitously, it was from her side of the family that the restaurant’s pie recipes originated. “They were really the perfect team in our restaurant,” says Traylor about his grandparents. Lea spoke to everyone that came through the door and was even known to yell a greeting from across the restaurant. “You’re in the right church and I’m your preacher,” recalls Traylor. Second to the food, Lea’s “gift of gab,” as Traylor calls it, is probably what drove so many people to visit the restaurant. He was the kind of character people wanted to hang on to, including acclaimed longtime host of The Tonight Show, Johnny Carson. In November of 1989 while Traylor was away in marine boot camp, Lea was invited on the show. He greeted Carson by asking, “Which one of your wives did you have dinner with today?” And followed with, “You’re a regular rascal, just like I am.”

Traylor’s grandmother’s personality was more subdued than her husband’s, but she was the work force behind the restaurant. She’d wake up at three in the morning, make breakfast for eager customers, then turn around for lunch prep. “She worked like I can’t even imagine,” says Traylor, adding that in the early years of the establishment she was the only staff in the kitchen. When additional staff were hired, she still worked alongside them. “It’s imperative to be in the trenches with your employees,” asserts Traylor. While Traylor maintains he has more of his grandmother’s personality at the Monroe location, he credits his wife Emy with carrying the loquacious flair his grandfather was known for: “I can cut her loose in a room and I don’t have to say a word. I just stand behind her and she takes care of everything.”

Twelve years ago, Traylor and his family decided to move to Monroe. He was attending Northeast Louisiana University at the time, now the University of Louisiana at Monroe. “There was something about Monroe that I really liked,” he says. So on July 5, 2007, they opened Lea’s of Lecompte. Originally it was the same menu as the Lecompte location—ham sandwiches and nine pies to choose from. But they quickly learned that in order to compete with neighboring restaurants, they’d have to expand the menu. “That was a hard choice,” says Traylor, because there is a running joke in the Lecompte restaurant that you only order a burger to get a rise out of Lea. He was notorious for kicking people out if they ordered a hamburger. One of the Monroe burgers is called the Roll Over, because Traylor claims his grandfather “would roll over in his grave if he knew we had hamburgers here.”

The Monroe restaurant also has a Hitchhiker Ham Sandwich to honor the depression-era hitchhikers that Lea would serve. Homage is paid to the original location through the furnishing, as well. Traylor brought chairs and bar stools from Lecompte, partially to relive snapshots of his childhood like customers sitting on the counter leisurely drinking coffee. But there is no real way to duplicate Lea’s Lunchroom, which is why Monroe’s version has established its own identity, and the customer base is largely to thank. “That’s what makes this restaurant special in Monroe—the customers. The regulars are like family,” says Traylor. Even their staff, some of which are work-release employees from the Ouachita Correctional Center, are deep-seated in the restaurant family. “They are great girls that have made poor decisions, decisions anyone can make,” says Traylor. Many of these women stay at the restaurant after release, with some customers buying them furniture for their house. “It’s sweet and special,” beams Traylor.

As the saying goes, numbers don’t lie and when it comes to Lea’s pies, the proof is in the eating. In 1963, Lea’s sold over 4,000 pies in less than twenty-six days. With a daily average of selling ten to twenty pies per day, it’s no surprise that in the seventies they recorded averaging about 78,000 pies per year, which includes wholesale orders. Not only are their pies listed in the Louisiana Hall of Fame, but in March 2001, the Louisiana Legislature also proclaimed Lecompte the Pie Capitol of Louisiana. Both restaurants use the same pie recipes since their inception. While the Lecompte crowd indulges on the pecan variety, Monroe customers are chocolate pie fans. “They love our meringue pies. We’ve just gotten so good at doing those meringues,” comments Traylor. BayouLife agrees. The meringues come out high and fluffy, the fillings are made with fresh eggs and milk, and the crust is made in-house from scratch—the real deal! Daily flavors usually include coconut, lemon, chocolate, banana, apple, peach, cherry, and pecan. The seasonal flavors to expect are all-time favorites like pumpkin, mincemeat, sweet potato, blueberry, blackberry, and dewberry. It will suffice to say, it’s never a complete meal at Lea’s without a slice of pie.

Lecompte may be known for their lunch menu, but the Monroe crowd has fallen in love with Lea’s country homestead-inspired, breakfast menu. If their country, salt-cured bone-in ham doesn’t make your mouth water, then their hash browns will do the trick. “People come just for these hash browns,” says Traylor, who uses his grandmother’s recipe. During the weekend, they’ll take it up a notch by serving hash brown casserole. BayouLife recommends their stuffed biscuit: a buttery biscuit stuffed with egg, cheese, your choice of sausage, bacon, or ham, and covered with sausage gravy “It’s a gluttony biscuit,” says Traylor. Their lunch menu is seasonal at the moment. Traylor recommends starting your lunch experience with a great “coming home food,” red beans and rice. Soon they’ll have homemade dumplings on the menu, straight from his grandmother’s kitchen. “My grandmother, the real cook in the restaurant, that was her meal for us as kids,” recalls Traylor.

“We’re not a diner per se,” mentions Traylor. While they serve quick comfort food, they also serve quality dishes, like the Catfish Lea’s: pan seared catfish over grits and smothered in gumbo. It’s a stockpile of goodness,” exclaims Traylor. Lea’s kitchen cooks meals as if they were cooking for someone they love. “Customers realize that. Their mouth knows that this was different,” says Traylor. Customers have taken note, but not just about the food. A recent Facebook review praised a much more intriguing quality of the restaurant: “Saw a waitress give plate of food to a homeless man and I will return to eat here again and again because kindness is the most important virtue I admire in a business.” While most reviews praise the food—“Those pancakes… those PANCAKES!!!”—some reviews appreciate the unhurried atmosphere that speaks to a “character and soul” that most franchise restaurants have yet to replicate. “It is a place to savor and work your way through a good meal,” remarks an appreciative customer.

Lea’s of Lecompte is grounded in Louisiana’s history in its own way. They’ve had every governor walk through their door, including current Governor Bel Edwards. Other political notables would frequently meet at the Lecompte location, and Traylor humorously recalls a comment Attorney Bill Boles once made to him: “At one point, the state was probably run from Lea’s.” Beyond a vantage point of Louisiana culture, Lea’s is a tradition to be carried on, which is Traylor’s call of duty: “When you’re a kid and you want to be out playing, you don’t want to do this. But as an adult, you realize it’s a family tradition. It’s your own personal culture. It means more to you.” There’s a lot of pride and love infused into family tradition, and that’s what Lea’s serves day in and day out—country food at its finest!

Lea’s of Lecompte is located at 319 Louisville Avenue Monroe, Louisiana 71201-5825. They are open Monday-Sunday 7 AM-3 PM. Follow them on Facebook to find out about lunch specials and monthly offers.