PART I: SCENES AND STORIES FROM SHREVEPORT, 1964-1969
Click to see: Centenary College of Louisiana… and our sexy ’60s cars!
Martha’s personal recollection of Centenary / Whatever happened to our favorite restaurants?
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO OUR FAVORITE RESTAURANTS IN SHREVEPORT?
During our dating years (’65-’68) and the first year of our marriage (’68-’69), Bernie and I enjoyed several restaurants in or near Shreveport. While writing about them in Betting on Bernie, I got curious and set out to discover which ones were still there and what had happened to those that weren’t.
Here’s the most-complete information that I turned up:
An extensive 2016 article in The Shreveport Times accurately describes — and illustrates with photos — the 1960s foodie culture as I recall it. All quotations below come from that piece.
In “the stretch of East Kings Hwy between Don’s Seafood House and Sansone’s… you could find 20 places to dine.”
STRAWN’S EAT SHOP is “still going strong… known for its hamburgers and strawberry pies” in its historic spot cheek-to-jowl with Centenary (and now two more in town as well). There’s still no website, but it’s rated #2 of 295 restaurants in Shreveport on TripAdvisor. No surprise to me there!
The original MURRELL’S DINER closed in 2009 but reopened in a different area six years later. “Story has it that Murrell Stansell once befriended and fed a struggling, young talent who later got his break on the local Louisiana Hayride show — the late Elvis Presley.”
“In the midst of this mile was BROCATO’S, a restaurant run by the same family for more than 50 years. ‘Papa Joe’ Brocato prepared foods from his native Sicily, and succulent steaks. In the days of the Depression, Papa Joe’s wall sign was appropriate: ‘It’s tough to pay 75 cents for a steak, but it’s tougher when you pay 25 cents.’ The ‘Wop Salad’ was his pride and joy — he even had it patented!”
If I were still a Shreveport resident now, I suspect I would miss Brocato’s more than any of the others mentioned here and in my book. Bernie and I enjoyed many happy evenings and delicious meals there.
ERNEST’S ORLEANS RESTAURANT AND LOUNGE — whose slogan these days is Serving the finest for over 60 years! — remains in the same location near the Red River where Bernie splurged for my birthday celebrations for five years in a row.
That 2016 Shreveport Times article that I quoted earlier goes on: “Shreveporters knew a good thing when they saw it, and they hung on to it for 43 years! DON’S SEAFOOD & STEAKHOUSE, which closed in 2008, is now a page in our scrapbook of fond memories — recollections of joining with friends and family to celebrate some of life’s most important occasions, such as weddings, anniversaries, engagements and birthdays.”
Don’s building burned in January 2020. In researching, I discovered this amazing video, including overhead drone shots, made and posted on Facebook by Twin Blends: Northwest Louisiana History Hunters. Their well-made documentary makes me smile at the memories and cry at the devastation that ended it.
Sadly, a few other places that Bernie and I loved — and which I mentioned in Betting on Bernie — appear to be gone for good, too. THE BEACHCOMBER, our romantic favorite for Polynesian food and drinks followed by slow dancing in its dark lounge, disappeared without a trace about the time we married.
Vanished, too, are PICCADILLY ITALIAN RESTAURANT — where Bernie re-introduced me to pizza after I’d enjoyed it in Italy as a child — and the HOLE-IN-THE-WALL BARBEQUE JOINT in Bossier City, whose aroma lingers in my mind even as its actual name escapes me.
The building that formerly housed SMITH’S CROSS LAKE INN — with its grinning stuffed-and-mounted ‘gator and splendid sunsets reflected on the lake — is still there, although in recent years a new restaurant has taken its place. Apparently, it’s still popular with the locals, which makes me happy.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRY OUT DELICIOUS RECIPES MENTIONED IN MY BOOK?
That article in The Shreveport Times quoted above includes a photo from 2003 of Don’s famous bread pudding with plum sauce, which Bernie and I ordered every time we dined there. Yum!
Way back in ’58, its owner had published Don’s Secrets, which I remember buying on the spot when we were there a decade later. Unfortunately, as time passed, it somehow slipped away from me.
Dishes from those places live on in my memory and also at the bottom of that same Times article, where you’ll find recipes for Joe Brocato’s Wop Salad and Special Dressing plus Don’s Hush Puppies and Don’s Bread Pudding with plum sauce.
Even now, my mouth waters just reading them!