Crazy Johnnie’s Restaurant to Reopen in Metairie
A renovation is underway on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie of the former City Bar Metairie location. The new restaurant, which is tentatively scheduled to open in the fall, will be a copycat of the Crazy Johnnie’s restaurant which enjoyed almost 30 years of popularity before closing in 2014. The new restaurant will bear the same name.
The new owner, Mike Landry, is related to the original owner Johnnie Schram, and has resurrected the sauces and seasonings of the filet mignon po-boy which made the original Crazy Johnnie’s a “legend” in the Greater New Orleans area. Landry has been testing out his recipes in different pop-up locations around Metairie and Kenner, and customers have been lining up to taste his wares.
With so many return customers and rave reviews, the opening of a restaurant mirroring the original Crazy Johnnie’s, right down the street from the old location, seemed inevitable. Serving steak, New Orleans-style BBQ shrimp, the filet mignon po-boy, and “crazy potatoes,” even most of the items on the menu will be the same, as well.
“It’s absolutely happening now. I don’t even have a choice,” Mike Landry said.
The original Crazy Johnnie’s restaurant was opened in 1987 as a Fat City bar in Metairie. Featuring a “steak night” at the bar, it was never intended to be a full-fledged restaurant. However, the steak meal became so popular, it was turned into one shortly thereafter and enjoyed immense popularity in the area.
The location at City Bar Metairie will be completely transformed during the renovation. With an early fall opening during football season, there are hopes it will be a success.
“It’s really going to be a really cool spot,” Landry said.
