Ed McIntyre is one of the most successful restaurateurs on the scene in New Orleans. His small empire of restaurants includes several concepts, with more appearing . Starting with Mr. Ed’s Seafood & Italian Restaurant in 1990, the group has expanded and contracted as restaurants open and close and new concepts emerge. Sometimes it is hard to keep track. Ed is an exceptionally good businessman.
After Mr. Ed’s Seafood & Italian Restaurant opened on Live Oak in Metairie in 1989, he opened Austin’s Seafood & Steakhouse, one of Metairie’s few high end restaurants. Austin’s has a nice first-class Metairie style to it, and the food is Mr. Ed’s New Orleans-style delicious. It’s a steakhouse primarily, with all that encompasses, and it has a New Orleans flair.
When a revolving-door restaurant space in Kenner became vacant, he moved into the empty place with another Mr. Ed’s Seafood & Italian Restaurant. And then the Mr. Ed’s Oyster Bar & Fish House era began.
When the old Bozo’s closed, Ed McIntyre was there to buy it immediately. He had many happy memories of going there with his father when he was a child. In no time it was transformed into a familiar brand that in no way resembled its predecessor. Bozo’s was a relic from another era, and Mr. Ed’s Oyster Bar & Fish House was a modern and spiffy place featuring Tom’s signature colors of orange and royal blue, a color sensibility that both apparently shared. The Oyster Bar was an immediate hit, featuring oysters like Bozo’s and a menu that included some fan faves from all of Mr. Ed’s other restaurants. Mr. Ed’s Oyster Bar & Fish House rapidly expanded all over town.
I was excited to see another concept, Mr. Ed’s Fried Chicken, get ready to open in Metairie during COVID. The furnishings were there but the doors never opened because finding workers proved an absurd obstacle. This one was even more short-lived than Cheeseburger Eddie's, a brief foray into gourmet burgers that came and went in 2014.
But Ed was not done creating new concepts. The Creole Kitchen arrived on the scene and most recently, Mr. Ed’s Po-Boys opened in the French Quarter on Iberville, in the space that was Country Flame. It’s a cute place that is very small, with a bar taking up half the linear dining space. A lot of the Mr. Ed’s regulars are on this menu. There is plenty of fried seafood, daily specials, and poor boys, including some unusual ones like the Thanksgiving poor boy and a Cochon de Lait, as well as an Oysters Rockefeller poor boy and another of blackened redfish. And the Louisiana hit parade of jambalaya and meat pies. There is even one Italian item here…meatballs as an appetizer.
I had been wanting to visit Mr. Ed’s Po-Boys since its arrival and a recent French Quarter trip provided the opportunity. I got meat pies because it’s essential if I see them anywhere, and jambalaya because the same personal principle applies. And mac’n’cheese. I also got a roast beef poor boy.
Everything I had was tourist-worthy. I was surprised by this food. I am generally a fan of Mr Ed's, but not what I had here. The meat pies looked like the frozen kind that come from a pack (though now that I think about it I should not have expected anything more.) They were small like the kind served at weddings with a remoulade sauce for dipping. Fine and ordinary. Perfect for a tourist passing by for some street food.
The jambalaya was not even as good as that. Both of these would not impress a local, and the jambalaya might even disappoint a tourist. It was Creole style and a cup of mushy rice. I have had Mr. Ed’s jambalaya in other restaurant concepts and it was Cajun-style and very good. As a jambalaya fanatic, this was a heartbreaker.
I did like the mac’n’cheese, which was a Rocky & Carlo’s style bucatini pasta with DayGlo yellow cheddar, served with Mr. Ed’s very good red gravy.
The roast beef poor boy was also disappointing, except for the seeded bread, which always gets extra points from me. It had nice fresh dressings but the roast beef filling was really ordinary. It would pass muster with a tourist, but there is so much better out there.
This visit made me curious. I love the Mr. Ed’s family of restaurants. I may now have to pop into a Mr. Ed’s Oyster Bar & Fish Grill in the Quarter to see if they are doing the tourist version there as well. I would be sad about that, because Mr. Ed’s is the quintessential New Orleans food, and that should certainly be offered to visitors.
