Poor Boy Lloyd’s owner Fred Taylor was preparing for the lunch rush shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday when two people entered the downtown establishment and gave him some surprising news—President Barack Obama was coming in to order some po-boys.
“We were a little shocked,” Taylor says. “We weren’t expecting him.”
There were rumors floating around that the president would head downtown after his speech at McKinley High earlier that morning for a po-boy, but Taylor says he never expected the president to walk through his doors.
The president was in town as part of his two-state post State of the Union tour. He arrived in Baton Rouge on Wednesday night and left after leaving the downtown po-boy restaurant.
The U.S. Secret Service agents told everyone in the restaurant at that time—Taylor estimates about half the tables were occupied—that the president was heading to the restaurant, asked everyone to stay in their seats, and then spoke to each table individually.
Then at about 11:30 a.m., with the streets blocked off and no one else allowed to come inside, the president’s entourage pulled up to the restaurant at the corner of Lafayette and Florida streets, and the president strolled inside followed by a phalanx of staffers and media.
Taylor says he greeted the president, who then went and shook hands with customers at every table, even stopping to take selfies with a few people. The president even posed for a picture with the entire staff.
Once he finally got to order, Obama ordered two oyster po-boys, one shrimp po-boy, one roast beef po-boy and some boudin balls to go. Some in his entourage also ordered some food to go.
Taylor says the president spent about 30 minutes in the restaurant before heading off to the Baton Rouge Metro Airport.
In the nearly 24 hours since the president left, Taylor says he has been bombarded with phone calls from people about the visit, including some regular customers who were upset Taylor did not let them know in advance that the president was visiting.
“I have no idea why he stopped by here,” Taylor muses, adding they hosted Bill Clinton and Al Gore more than 20 years ago when they were running for the White House.
—Ryan Broussard
