In Search of Good Food: The judges know
By DAVID ERSOFF, Journal Contributor
It was 90 years ago when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was in the middle of rolling out the New Deal to get the economy going. One of the series of acts was the Randolph Sheppard Blind Vendors Act: a program that puts blind people into business for themselves by running snack bars and vending stands in federal buildings.
In fact, it is a priority that must be afforded the blind before any other food vendor can run a business there. All other states followed, establishing the same priority in government buildings.
When you watch old movies from the late 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s and see the blind guy selling matches, pencils, and snacks at a courthouse, that is real, something I never knew.
You are probably wondering how this relates to a search for good food? I would be too.
Inside the Caddo Parish Courthouse, there is one such snack bar, G.W. Snack Bar, 501 Texas Street, Shreveport. This small business is operated by Gene Washington, a 20-year veteran of the Randolph Sheppard Blind Vendor program, having run stands in Baton Rouge before heading back to Shreveport in 2014. He’s been open in the local courthouse ever since.
Gene has a standard snack bar menu with burgers, sandwiches, and fried food; yes, he has a fryer in that small space. He also serves standard breakfast items. All these items are fresh and well-made and worth trying, but not the reason he landed on our Search for Good Food.
Gene runs a lunch special most days, rotating a bunch of different choices throughout the month. Those options include Chicken n’ Dumplings, Red Beans and Rice, Beef Tips, Turkey Spaghetti, Hamburger Steak, Catfish Creole, and many others. These are all done as full meals with fresh sides.
All of these lunch specials are made from scratch, a far cry from the premade frozen ones you would find in a grocery store bin.
My work takes me to the Caddo Courthouse at least once a month. A couple of years ago I went into the snack bar for a drink, and the lunch special was the Chicken n’ Dumplings, which if you’ve been reading my articles, you know is a weakness of mine. So yes, I had to order it. After getting back to my office and eating my lunch, I was hooked.
The next time I was at the courthouse I learned that Gene’s Auntie makes it for his lunch special, usually on Thursdays. I loved it so much a few months later I had a small family dinner, and I had Gene’s Auntie prepare enough for my get-together. It was a hit.
Gene makes all the rest himself. I have tried most of them and they have all been so good. One of them stands out to the point I would put it up against any daily special in town, and it’s the newest one.
This year during Lent, Gene created a new Friday lunch special: Catfish Creole. I was lucky one Friday and got the last one he had. Yes, he sells out of it every single time he prepares it, even as he increases how much he makes.
The business I have at the Caddo Courthouse is flexible, and I assure you I schedule my visits around whatever the lunch special is that day. After all, when you find good food, why not go back and get it again and again?
Contact David at dersoff@bellsouth.net
