The year was 1928. Our country was nearing the end of a notorious decade that would come to be known as the Roaring Twenties. The decade belonged to speakeasies and bathtub gin, Ford’s Model “T” automobile, the first transatlantic flight and rise of the motion picture. Because of the success of our involvement in the Great War, American industry expanded at an unheard of rate. Anything seemed possible. Anything could be done. No matter how bad life could get you down, with a little ingenuity, some determination and a heaping helping of hard work, a man could do anything. Enter Lea Johnson.  Before the Great Depression, before the Second World War, before air conditioning, television, all-you-can-eat salad bars or the Internet, there was Lea’s Lunchroom. At first glance, it really wasn’t much to look at…just a small town diner located on a busy state highway with what can only be described as a limited menu at best: Ham sandwiches, a special-of-the-day plate lunch, strong Louisiana coffee and homemade pies. Years later, Mr. Lea, as he was often called, would say there wasn’t any sense in a menu. That would just waste time. In his eyes, if the food is good enough, people will return. And return they did…time and time again. Ask any patron of Lea’s to describe their favorite thing about the restaurant and most will likely tell tales of coconut crème, chocolate or pecan pies. But underneath it all, what they really appreciate is the consistency. No matter what happened, one could always count on a delicious, hearty meal from Lea’s. Chances are the chocolate pie you enjoyed at Lea’s as a child in the early 1970s was an exact replica of the pie your grandfather enjoyed in the 1930s.  If You Feed Them, They Will Come Lea Johnson never intended to create a landmark restaurant. Lea’s parents were plantation owners. In addition to tending to crops, the Johnson family also raised hogs. According to Lea’s grandson Toby Traylor, this was where the seeds of Lea’s Lunchroom were planted. It all started in 1928 in Johnson’s native Cheneyville, just a few miles down the road from the restaurant’s current location. Trained as an auto mechanic, Johnson tired of the long, hot hours of automobile repair work and decided to do something different. Acting on a hunch, Johnson traded one car for two countertops, five stools, one coal-oil stove and a coffee pot. Not long after, he hired a skinny, redheaded, seventeen year old high school graduate, who he called Miss Georgie, to sell coffee and popcorn and manage the café. In 1939, Lea married Miss Georgie because, as he jokingly liked to say, he was tired of paying her $4 a week salary. Meeting, hiring and marrying Miss Georgie soon proved to be a serendipitous moment for the restaurant because it was from her side of the family that the pie recipes originated. “I told Miss Georgia,” said Johnson, “that we were going to serve one kind of sandwich.” His now famous ham sandwich consists of a combination of sliced, home-baked ham and ground ham plus lettuce, tomato and pickle. The only other items are a plate lunch with three choices of meat and locally raised vegetables and of course, the renowned pies. Lea liked to tell his customers he perfected the ham sandwich. Pie in the Sky No trip to Lea’s Lunchroom is complete without a slice of their world famous pies. The secret to Lea’s pies comes from Mrs. Georgie’s side of the family. “The pies are my mother’s recipes,” Mrs. Georgie said in an interview during the 1980s with Louisiana Life magazine, “I use to go to the restaurant at 3 a.m. to meet the pie makers to make the pies.” Lea’s Lunchroom bakes 8 different types of pies each morning. The daily flavors include coconut, lemon, chocolate, banana, apple, peach, cherry and the best-selling flavor, pecan. The six seasonal flavors are pumpkin, mincemeat, sweet potato, blueberry, blackberry and dewberry. While baked hams were always Lea’s specialty since the restaurant’s inception, it became apparent that something special was happening with the pies when Lea’s sold over 4,000 pies in less than 26 days in 1963. Since the 1960s, Lea’s estimates they sell around 65,000 pies a year with Thanksgiving being their busiest time of year. Lea’s homemade pies are listed in the Louisiana Hall of Fame and were selected as a favorite by Louisiana Life magazine readers. Click here to order a pie from Lea’s. In March 2001, the Louisiana Legislature proclaimed Lecompte the Pie Capitol of Louisiana. Lea’s went from making two pies a week in 1928 to almost 65,000 pies a year which includes our pecan pie mail-outs. Lecompte In 1950, Lea opened Lea’s Lunchroom in nearby Lecompte and within two years, he had so much business that he took down his brightly lit neon sign and “hid it.” Business was good. So good that Lea expanded his restaurant, virtually doubling the floor space. That didn’t help. The word was out. People just couldn’t get enough of the restaurant. In fact, Lea’s was so busy that Lea was forced to stick a new sign in the window that discouraged buses from stopping because his place was too small. Lea’s was expanded four times to now accommodate buses and tour groups. But it wasn’t just locals that frequented his establishment. Maybe it was savvy entrepreneurship or just the grace of God, but Lea’s Lunchroom benefited from more than just delicious, hot plate lunches and out-of-this-world pies. Lea’s Lunchroom just happened to be geographically located exactly between New Orleans and Shreveport. Remember: this was before the days of McDonald’s and Burger King. To wary travelers, Lea’s is a safe, quiet, clean place to enjoy a cup of coffee and catch up with the latest gossip from the ever-present Lea Johnson. It became a tradition for families and a destination attraction for generations of customers.  Throughout the years, numerous reporters and newsmen (even Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show in 1989) questioned Lea about the secret of his success. Lea would laugh, smile and then credit his love for people. “I love people,” said Lea Johnson. “If you love people, you’re going to give them the best. Also, we don’t serve riff raff around here. Nice people are always seeking a nice place to eat.” Apparently, nice people also like to talk. If you were fortunate enough to have stopped at Lea’s Lunchroom while Mr. Lea was still alive, you probably heard your fair share of gossip and politics. Before his death in the mid-1990s, Mr. Lea liked to brag that every governor since John M. Parker had taken a meal at his restaurant. In the mid 70s, Lea and Georgie Johnson’s daughter, Ann, moved back home to Lecompte from Houston to run the family business. Ann brought a savvy business sense that the restaurant didn’t previously possess. She joined the Central Louisiana Chamber of Commerce and the Louisiana Restaurant Owner’s Association. Before the state of Louisiana began the construction of Interstate 49, Ann bought land near one of the proposed exits. The Mello Joy connection These days, you don’t have to make the trip to Lecompte to enjoy a pie from Lea’s. Since May 2005, Mello Joy Café’s three Lafayette locations began serving lemon, chocolate, coconut, pecan, apple and cherry. The original owner of Mello Joy, Louis Begnaud, was best friends with Mr. Lea. Until Mello Joy was sold to Community Coffee in 1975, Lea’s Lunchroom served Mellow Joy coffee. In 2005, Lea’s began to serve Mello Joy again. “Our restaurant is a nostalgic place,” said Ann Johnson. “I thought it would be a nostalgic thing for both.”