Spicy Boy’s Brings Louisiana Po’boys and Debris-Topped Fries to East Nashville

Spicy Boy’s is unleashing Cajun and Creole classics like shrimp po’boys and beignets in a historic East Nashville home built in 1936. The Maxwell neighborhood’s newest restaurant (924 Mcferrin Avenue) comes from Baton Rouge-native and Loyola graduate Justen Gardner Cheney, reports the Nashville Business Journal. The Louisiana restaurant, which opened March 5, debuted its bar last Wednesday.

Formerly home to the Sweet Bean, which closed in 2019, Cheney and his family bought the property about three years ago. After renovations, they nearly doubled the restaurant space to 1,500 square feet with room for 42 seats. The no-frills counter-service shop has a long bar, as well as table seating.

The menu is a hit list of Louisiana classics, like Natchitoches meat pies (a Louisiana version of the Spanish empanada with spicy ground meat), chicken and andouille gumbo, and fries topped with debris (shredded roast beef in gravy). The po’boy menu is the most extensive — with versions stuffed with fried Gulf shrimp or catfish; fries and debris; Mississippi fried catfish; smoked sausage; and more. All the po’boys come on classic Leidenheimer French bread, a crispy, airy bread imported from a circa-1896 New Orleans bakery. (In New Orleans, the Leidenheimer delivery truck is a daily presence in front of po’boy shops all over town.)

The full bar serves Louisiana-style frozen daiquiris, also according to the Nashville Business Journal. Cheney hopes the spot will become popular for viewing LSU and Saints football. Spicy Boy’s is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to midnight.