The Story of Stevie’s Creole Cafe, Which Serves the Best Gumbo in LA

Like the marquee lights of a Bourbon Street bar, the sign above Stevie’s Creole Cafe beckons diners who zoom along Pico Boulevard in Mid-City, where heaping bowls of crab-filled gumbo, comforting red beans and rice, zingy jambalaya with fettuccine noodles, and tender cornbread muffins await them. There aren’t any Abita beers, Hand Grenade slushies, or Vieux Carres served here, but otherwise, the flavors of New Orleans take center stage at Stevie’s. On a recent cold night in February, four first-timers at a neighboring table ask me if the gumbo is worth ordering, peering at the white ceramic cauldron of dark brown stew before me, its cooked shellfish poking out from the broth of filé powder, buttery roux, and stock. (I tell them it’s probably the best in Los Angeles.) The dining room is easy-going with weathered wooden tables packed together; the patio, which would normally seat a few groups outside, remains empty because of the chilly weather. Inside, it’s as warm as a Southern home — cheerful and veritably humming.

The late critic Jonathan Gold once called Stevie’s gumbo the “best bowl of gumbo this side of New Orleans,” but to only come for that would undercut the menu’s other gems, including one of the best macaroni and cheeses in town. With a new generation of ownership and going into its 39th year of business, Stevie’s remains one of the most beloved Creole restaurants in Los Angeles.

Diners sit around tables at Stevie’s Creole Cafe in Mid-City.

Stephen Perry, who was a child actor in The Raisin in the Sun with Sidney Poitier and later performed in The Sound and the Fury with Yul Brynner and Joanne Woodward, opened Stevie’s on the Strip — what folks used to call the area around Crenshaw Corridor — in 1986 on the corner of Jefferson and Crenshaw in South LA. Leaning on his deep entertainment industry connections (he also acted in television shows like The Mod Squad and The Twilight Zone) and a yearslong advertising campaign on local radio, Perry drew a wide, passionate audience of soul, Southern, and Creole food fans. In 1993, Gold wrote in the Los Angeles Times that Perry sold his food “with the vigor some may think more appropriate to used cars.”

Stevie’s eventually expanded to Encino in 1999 with supper club vibes, live music, cocktails, and the same soulful Creole dishes that had solidified its popularity in South LA. Celebrities like Natalie Cole, Bobby Brown, Stevie Wonder, and Eddie Murphy would perform music or comedy sets, adding to the ritzy experience. In 2011, Stevie’s on the Strip closed, and in 2015, Stevie’s Creole in Encino also shuttered, leaving questions about the restaurant’s future. That year, Stephen Perry and his daughter Lauren opened Stevie’s Creole Cafe on Pico Boulevard with a more fast-casual ambience. “Being in LA with only so many Creole restaurants here, it’s really special what we have,” says Lauren, who knows the weight of carrying on a legacy restaurant. “I have more purpose trying to evolve a brand that my parents started versus helping someone else.”

“Being in LA with only so many Creole restaurants here, it’s really special what we have.”

Through the years, Perry’s children often helped with service and kitchen duties, and Lauren eventually realized she had a keen passion for the restaurant industry. At the age of 18, she attended Le Cordon Bleu in Phoenix, Arizona. She came back to Los Angeles ready to revamp her father’s recipes, refine kitchen operations, and improve the restaurant from top to bottom. “I learned the art of food and the science. I enhanced our dishes and even got a little creative,” says the younger Perry. Some of those additions included flavored cornbreads, a tweaked gumbo recipe, and a new étouffée.

In the last eight years, Stevie’s Creole Cafe has become Mid-City staple, bringing in San Fernando Valley diners who used to visit Encino location and South LA residents, as longtime Crenshaw fans trek north of the 10 freeway for blackened red snapper, fried chicken, and a dark, brooding bowl of gumbo stacked with shrimp, Andouille sausage coins, shredded chicken, and crab legs.

The elder Perry, now 78 years old, still drops by to taste test and say hello to longtime regulars. “He’s definitely proud with the legacy and thankful. For a Black family to start something and leave an impression, he’s blessed that we want to do this and actually love it,” says Lauren, who, along with her sisters Morgan and Cameron, help manage the restaurant.

Lauren credits the support of the community for Stevie’s success. “We have customers who come multiple times a week, and sometimes daily because we have such a niche food,” she says. Thanks to the younger Perrys and their father’s continued guidance, Stevie’s Creole Cafe should have many more years to come, its bowls of deeply flavorful gumbo ready to spice up the city.

Stevie’s Creole Cafe is open daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is located at 5545 W. Pico Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA, 90019.

The counter at Stevie’s with the day’s specials.

Lauren Perry, the owner of Stevie’s Creole Cafe, preps a bowl of gumbo.

Outside Stevie’s Creole Cafe in Mid-City Los Angeles.

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