NEW ORLEANS— All month long, we’re telling the story of black history in New Orleans and today it’s the story of Barrow’s Catfish.
Deidre Barrow Johnson told us, “My grandmother and my grandfather started the business. It was not my grandfather’s intent to do catfish.”
Barrow’s husband Kenneth Johnson started working in the restaurant as a teenager. Johnson said, “When the restaurant opened back in 1943, just socially how things were, it was a meeting place. It was a place where we could say that we had our own place that we could gather. Our friends could come here, and family could come here. We didn’t have that many opportunities.”
According to Barrow Johnson, “My dad came in full time, and he took over when my grandparents got older ans history was written. The restaurant made a big impact in the community, in our community.”
Barrow’s Catfish is located at 8300 Earhart Blvd.
Black History Month on WGNO-TV is brought to you by our friends at The King Firm.