Shortly after I came into Tom’s life a quirky restaurant arrived on the scene and its unusual name was on everyone’s lips. It was Jacques-Imo’s. It's owner was Jacques Leonardi, a New York transplant who fell in love with our city as a Coast Guard officer stationed here. After learning the ropes at K-Paul's, Jack and his wife opened Jacques-Imo's on Oak St. Uptown in 1996. It was an instant hit with its upscale hit in a downscale environment. It was quite literally the talk of the town. Tom wondered why people felt that in order for a restaurant to be good in New Orleans, it had to be raffish. I never made it to Jacques-imo’s, but we have recently visited its spin-off, Crabby Jack’s.
Crabby Jack’s is a place in the curve of Jefferson Highway where Metairie becomes New Orleans. It is the front little space attached to Jack Leonardi’s seafood processing plant. That fact alone suggests the ambience of Crabby Jack’s, but in reality it is a cute little place. There is room for about 30-40 people. Service is fast-casual, and the folks behind the counter couldn't be more welcoming or accommodating. The menu is just the right size for a place like this, and it is more eclectic than others like it.
Crabby Jack’s has some unusual poor boys, like a shrimp remoulade and fried green tomatoes version of the iconic local sandwich. The roasted duck poor boy is another one unlikely to be found in too many other places. There are sandwiches and salads and some plate lunches on the menu, following a familiar formula for places like this. Besides a fried chicken section, they offer barbecue on the weekends.
There were too many things we wanted to try here so we did it in two visits. We got just poor boys and a side of dirty rice the first time. Fried shrimp, roast beef, and the duck poor boy were the sandwiches we ordered. I always look for jambalaya and/or dirty rice in places like these. This is south Louisiana after all, so I expect a good version of these two iconic dishes. I was shocked at how mediocre it was. There was nothing to recommend this, in my view, unless eating rice is essential to your meal.
The fried shrimp poor boy didn’t move the needle much either. I found it overstuffed, yes, but that famous quote Tom retold often enough for me to remember it came to mind: One diner at Deanie's told another, “This is the worst seafood I ever ate!" The other replied, “Yeah, but they sure do give you a lot of it!” Tom always told me that marveling that if something was terrible, why would you want more of it?
I’m not implying that this fried shrimp poor boy was the worst I’ve had, but it’s down on the list. There were lots of shrimp but they were coated with a breading I found utterly boring. There was a lot of fresh dressings on the sandwich, but little mayo, which I feel adds to the finished product.
The roast beef poor boy wasn’t appreciably better. The same fresh dressings and scant mayo was part of an overstuffed roast beef sandwich that I thought also lacked the flavor I was expecting.
We didn’t eat all the sandwiches, so the roast beef was consumed a day later. It improved after sitting a while and reheating, but it remains down on the list of good roast beef poor boys around town.
The duck poor boy was considerably better. When I ordered it I was unsure what else should be on this poor boy. The exceptionally friendly and helpful young lady on the phone explained that it was their most popular sandwich and that the most popular way of dressing it was with coleslaw. Done.
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The sandwich was roasted duck that was shredded with some jus. Coleslaw was a good way to accentuate it. This was definitely preferable to the others, so I began to wonder if the things that put Crabby Jack’s on the map were the outliers that no one else served.
While I was picking up the order, I noticed a woman eating fried chicken, so I immediately thought we should try that. Maybe they had outstanding chicken.
We returned again soon after and I got the fried chicken, some shrimp remoulade, and a blackened Gulf fish which that day was Drum. The chicken came with two sides, allowing me to try the jambalaya and mac’n’cheese. The blackened fish came with a salad and one side, so I chose maque choux.
The shrimp remoulade I ordered as an app was $7 for a lot of shrimp, but they were coated in a dressing that was so thin it didn’t adhere to the shrimp. This was heartbreaking, since I love shrimp remoulade.
I ordered the whole chicken, which was $18. This seemed like a deal but in hindsight, I would have much preferred a box of Popeye’s. It had the same problem that the fried seafood had, which was lack of flavor. The frying techniques here are good. It is golden brown and greaseless, so the oil is changed properly too. But the batter simply lacks flavor. Again, fried chicken is good ipso facto, but it could be a lot better. Each piece came with a pickle slice on top, so that dwarfed the chicken flavor too.
The two sides were also underwhelming. Here was a red jambalaya, which is far beneath the brown in goodness, in my view. This one 
was a few steps below that. I didn’t eat past two bites, and that is saying something.
The mac’n’cheese did not have a bad flavor, nor did it have anything to recommend it.
The grilled Gulf fish was Drum, which Tom always loves. It came with a sauce of Jalapeño Hollandaise. The fish was well-coated in seasoning, and the sauce was nice. The corn maque choux was what one might see in a school cafeteria.The salad was the best thing on this plate. It was interesting, with fresh ingredients of interesting greens and a red tomato, and the dressing was creamy.
I can’t imagine what I was expecting at this point. For these prices, it’s unfair to expect much better, so that’s on me. I guess I just couldn’t get over the discrepancy with what I’d heard and what I was experiencing. Jacques Leonardi is somewhat of a legend, so that explains the hype.
Maybe it’s one of those places where the prices are so cheap that expectations aren’t high, and everyone wins. That’s totally fine. It’s just not for me.
