World Famous in New Orleans
Discover a few secrets behind the slice at a restaurant on the edge of the Warehouse District that's been serving the "world's best baked ham" for over 80 years.
Mother's might get all the hype for its roast beef debris po-boys, fried chicken, and red beans and rice, but the real MVP is in all likelihood the baked ham—a flavorful, low-key legend that shows up in nearly half the dishes on the menu.
Slowly simmered with turnip greens or cabbage, chopped and sautéed into Mae's Omelet with green onions and mushrooms, or griddled and layered onto a buttery, buttermilk biscuit with scrambled eggs, ham is arguably Mother's frequently unsung hero.
The corner restaurant was born in the late 1930s when Simon Landry purchased what was formerly a small, Greek sandwich shop for his wife Mary, who loved to cook. Later, their sons Eddie and Jack took over the family business and named it Mother's in honor of the restaurant's inspiration and core founder.
At the time of its founding, the Warehouse District was a very different neighborhood than it is today. As an area consisting of small businesses and warehouses, there were a lot of longshoremen and laborers that worked on the riverfront and hungry men looking for an affordable, filling meal, and Mother's menu was designed to fit that need. Today, the neighborhood around the corner of Poydras Street and Tchoupitoulas consists mostly of office buildings and hotels, yet the home-cooked, stick-to-your-ribs fare at Mother's has endured, appealing to office workers, laborers, and tourists alike.
After nearly 50 years in business, the Landrys sold the corner restaurant to brothers Jerry and John Amato, and it has stayed in their family ever since. Though they added some of their own recipes, the Amato family has made it a point to maintain the Landrys' beloved offerings, including the closely-held, family secret recipe for glazed baked ham.
Long before Mother's changed hands, the Landry family was already sourcing cured hams from Chisesi Brothers to bake, sell, and serve in their restaurant. A local meat-packing company that has supplied the Gulf South with hams, deli meats, and more for over a century, Chisesi is now operated by the fourth and fifth generations of the Chisesi family.
Self-proclaimed as the "world's best," the popularity of Mother's baked ham is due, part and parcel, to Chisesi's curing methods. "Mother's is also supplied with a specific cut of ham, according to specifications agreed upon nearly half a century ago," explained Charles Pizzo, Mother's marketing manager who's worked with the restaurant since 1986. "The cured hams are also slow-cooked, which renders the fat and caramelizes the crust, giving it a certain sweetness."
The highly-coveted ham crust's unique flavor can also be attributed to Mother's uber-secret mix of herbs and spices. "Only a handful of people know the seasoning blend," Pizzo confided. It's a formula not even known by the cooks as "the general manager pre-mixes the seasonings."
Although a visitor can walk into Mother's anytime and get a thick slice of their signature baked ham with a side of potato salad or red beans and rice, dyed-in-the-wool guests at Mother's know you have to get there early for a cut of the caramelized, well-seasoned crust, a swoon-worthy tidbit for any lover of pork products.
Another random porkalicious morsel pops up from time to time at Mother's—a crispy goodie for lucky souls who happen to walk in on the right day. "When the chef gets enough ham trimmings, he will fry them in a cast iron skillet in order to render the fat for the soups and vegetables," Pizzo revealed. "But the cracklins—the ham cracklins—are just put out on the counter and given away." He also admitted Mother's ham cracklins are especially good when served atop Mother's creamy potato salad.
On average, Mother's produces around 300 baked hams per month, especially popular during Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, and are sold whole or by the half to locals and customers across the country. While the shutdowns during the pandemic were rough on small businesses throughout the state, Mother's turned lemons into lemonade and started selling their baked hams, and other popular goods, through Goldbelly.com.
All of Mother's hams are trimmed, glazed, baked, and carved in a butcher shop and kitchen on the second floor of the red-bricked building that also houses the restaurant.
Home cooks in the area are all too cognizant of what Pizzo described bluntly as "the best deal in town for ham bones and chunks" in the city. Perfect for cooking up a pot of collard greens, chowders, soups and stews—not to mention the city's Monday tradition of red beans and rice—Mother's sells a three-pound bag of rough-cut, chunks of ham for only $6, as well as a large bag of ham bones for $3. Throw in a couple pounds of dried beans, as well as a few hefty handfuls of a well-chopped "trinity," and you'll have more than enough "provender" for an army of folks, whether they're dropping by your house during Mardi Gras or visiting for Jazz Fest.
Everyone has their favorites at Mother's, be it the Ferdi Special po-boy layered with thick slices of ham and roast beef debris; a massive chef's salad loaded with chunks of ham, turkey, roast beef, and cheese; or a big bowl of Mae's filet gumbo with lots of chicken and smoked sausage. Many can't resist a warm, buttermilk biscuit with egg, cheese, sliced baked ham—or crust, if you can get it, and a side of cheesy grits. It's New Orleans' own version of a greasy spoon—simple, affordable fare that definitely fills you up and keeps you coming back for more.
