New Crazy Johnnie’s to open in Metairie. Here’s the plan to revive a legendary restaurant

It started with sauce and seasoning mix reviving the Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House name. That lit a fire for countless people who remember this low-key legend of Metairie’s dining past. Soon it will also light the grills on a new restaurant.

Late last year, Mike Landry cooked up a plan to bring back the sauces and seasonings from Crazy Johnnie’s, which closed a decade earlier.

The response went through the roof as people clamored for the stuff with rekindled memories of a favorite restaurant. Soon, Landry had assembled a team to serve the restaurant’s famous filet mignon po-boys with pop-ups at outdoor markets in Jefferson Parish, drawing long lines to its stand.

Now plans are advancing for a new restaurant under the Crazy Johnnie’s name in Metairie.

Landry and his partners have leased the former City Bar Metairie location at 3560 Veterans Memorial Blvd., a few blocks from the original restaurant’s home.

He says a thorough renovation is in the works that will transform the space. Pending permits, work could begin this week to have the new restaurant ready to open in early fall.

“It’s really going to be a really cool spot,” Landry said.

Familiar faces, menu

The menu will follow the template from the old days, led by steaks, “crazy potatoes,” the house take on New Orleans style BBQ shrimp and that filet mignon po-boy.

Landry, who is related to the family that once ran Crazy Johnnie’s, is assembling staff and that includes many who worked at the restaurant back in the day. One of those is Elroy “Honey” Mayberry, who has been manning the grill at pop-ups.

Landry said he originally had no intention of opening a restaurant, but the outpouring of goodwill since bringing back the sauce and seasoning created a momentum of its own.

“It’s absolutely happening now, I don’t even have a choice,” he said.

How the legend started

The original Crazy Johnnie’s Steak House, named for the late Johnnie Schram, started out in 1987 as a neighborhood bar in Metairie’s Fat City area, at 3520 18th St. A simple “steak night” promotion proved so popular that the operation evolved into a full-time restaurant.

It was known for its inexpensive steaks and tavern-like atmosphere, a place to eat like a king for a pittance of a price, cut from a different cloth than upscale steakhouses.

Rising beef prices eventually began catching up with the restaurant’s business model, however, and by 2013 Schram was ready to retire. But once regulars heard it would shut down, they turned out in such numbers that Crazy Johnnie’s stayed open for several more months. It eventually shut for good in the spring of 2014.