The character and flavor of so many New Orleans area restaurants run through family. How do they continue as the families behind them get older, and as the trends and pressures around the business change?
Consider the curious case of Radosta’s Po-boys, a backstreet gem in Old Metairie. It’s now marking 50 years in business. It tastes the same and, just as important for a po-boy shop, it feels the same, even though there’s been a big change.
The Radosta family sold the business in 2022. They were ready to retire. But that did not last very long.
Radosta’s is the life they’ve known. After cashing in their nest egg, they found they still wanted the good part — the people, the place, the social outlet and the rhythm of their family business.
Within months they were back at work. Wayne Radosta, now 73, is here every morning starting the roast beef. His kid brother Don, 71, works right beside him as usual. Don’s wife Joan still sometimes works the register. Right next to them are Sandy and Rob Case, the local couple who bought the restaurant from them.
So whose restaurant is it now? Well, Rob and Sandy are officially owners, sort of bosses but also inarguably students. It’s been about spending time together, learning house custom and absorbing the institutional knowledge of a long-running joint, just the Radosta-ness of it all. It won’t last like this forever, but just think of the New Orleans tutelage being passed along.
The menu is still a roster of house creations that have accrued over time and old classics that have simply endured, like the split pea soup. The roast beef po-boys are a point of pride, and so are the soft shell crabs, with a fresh pop to the bite. The Italian sausage patties are made in house to Wayne’s recipe. Same with the hot sausage, maybe the hottest around.
They don’t make old school po-boy shops like Radosta’s anymore. So between the gravy and the mayo, the French breadcrumbs and the bottled Barq’s, here’s some gratitude for the spirit keeping this one around.
