Weaver's
Lakeview: 800 Navarre Ave
1945-2005
Weaver's was a quaint poor boy shop that reminded me of the ice cream and sweet shops that used to be common in every neighborhood around town. The walls were covered with New Orleans memorabilia, and the tables and chairs would look more at home at Angelo Brocato's than in a poor boy shop.
Nothing about Weaver's suggested modern marketing. They made their poor boys one at a time from good ingredients and well-tuned recipes. The roast beef had the classic flavor that any Orleanian immediately recognizes, but finds difficult to define.
Horatio Weaver opened the place as a neighborhood grocery and butcher shop at the end of World War II. His son Steven took over in 1969. But the person most people remember is Steven's wife Helen, who over the years converted the look of the place from the stark design of the grocery to that gift-shop look for which Weaver's was known.
Aside from the tables inside, Weaver's also had outdoor tables. The place drew a clientele from the nearby Delgado College and WYES-TV, along with people on their way to City Park, whose benches made as inviting a site for a casual lunch as can be imagined.
The Katrina flood waters were deep at Weaver's. After the storm, it evolved into Café Navarre, operated by the younger generation of the Riccobono family, of Peppermill renown.
