At Papa Roux, discount draws a crowd of Second Amendment supporters

Typically, it's the catfish plate or the po' boy sandwiches that draw customers to Papa Roux, a Cajun restaurant on East 10th Street near Post Road.

But Monday's unusually heavy crowds at Art Bouvier's little slice of Louisiana in the Midwest didn't just come for the crawfish jambalaya. They also came to support Bouvier's stance on guns. Specifically, Papa Roux's embrace of people who are licensed to carry weapons.

Bouvier issued a call to his patrons via Facebook over the weekend that he'd offer a 25 percent discount to those who can show a license to carry a handgun. He came up with the offer after a robbery at the store Saturday night left his manager shaken by an encounter with a man who said he had a gun and wanted the store's cash.

Bouvier’s theory is simple: A store filled with patrons who might be packing should be a pretty good deterrent to anyone else who gets an idea to rob the store and put employees or diners in danger.

After Papa Roux robbery, discount promised for handgun license holders

What Bouvier says he didn’t count on was the flood of media — local and national — beating a path to his door. Nor did he count on the stampede of Cajun food lovers who filled the store Monday for its first day open since the robbery.

“This is crazy for a Monday,” he said.

By 11 a.m. every table had been claimed, and by noon it was a dozen people deep inside the store, with more folks waiting in the parking lot to get inside. Among them were accountants and medical office workers, a paramedic and an HVAC repairman, small-business owners and a smiling politician.

Nearly all of them came to show their support for Bouvier's approach to guns. It also didn't hurt that they got a steep discount on lunch.

The crowd included restaurant regular Justin Stauffer, 19, and his friend and first-timer Hunter Bowman, 20. Both said they had permits and were packing — Justin a .45-caliber Glock, and Hunter a .40-caliber Smith & Wesson.

Stauffer said he appreciates the Papa Roux gun policy, which he finds unusual. “There’s a few restaurants where I go where I have actually been asked to leave or go put my weapon in the car or they weren’t going to serve me,” he said.

There was 56-year-old Diane Engstrom, who lives near the restaurant and has eaten at Papa Roux before, but who made a special effort to come out Monday because of Bouvier’s stance.

“He’s not alone, and I think he’s doing a good thing because I think the next person that decides they’re going to try and rob a place ought to think twice,” said Engstrom, who brought her permit but left her weapon at home.

With mass shootings in churches, schools and movie theaters, and with concern about illegal guns that find their way into the hands of teenage gang members, there are few public matters as volatile these days as gun policy. President Barack Obama, who has few fans in the gun rights crowd, is scheduled to be in Chicago on Tuesday to call for stricter gun laws.

But if there were gun opponents in the lunch crowd at Papa Roux on Monday, they were keeping their views to themselves. There were no protests outside the shop. And even on Bouvier’s Facebook page, the skeptics of his purposes and wisdom were drowned out by affirmations of his stance. In the restaurant, the celebration of the Second Amendment was at fullest volume.

Seated along one wall was a 27-year-old paramedic who brought his young son and his Glock 19 to lunch. The man, who declined to give his name, said he showed up to back a business owner who openly supports the Second Amendment.

Nearby, two young female accountants — Jade Reinoehl, 25, and Lindy Orr, 32 — said they were visiting a client in the area and they love Cajun food. When they saw media reports about Bouvier's invitation to gun owners, they saw it as a perfect lunchtime opportunity.

Reinoehl said she grew up around guns, so being in a restaurant where guns — hidden guns — were likely plentiful wasn't a problem. In fact, she said the businesses that ban guns seem to be the ones putting themselves and their customers at risk.

"I think that is just asking for robberies," she said.

The source of the frenzy, Bouvier, is no stranger to media whirlwinds. In February 2013, he was snowed under with interview requests after he hired a young man off the street who was prepared to walk 6 miles to a job interview. A year later, he generated favorable publicity when he announced his restaurant would replace Pepsi products with local beverages. Not long after, he was trying to explain away a blackface image he posted on Facebook. He said the image was a reference to a Mardi Gras tradition in New Orleans. Others saw it as insensitive.

So, as the news crews took turns interviewing Bouvier on Monday, he said this new media frenzy "wasn't his first rodeo." In fact, the only problem that might confront Bouvier with the gun discount is that it could be too successful. While his traffic volume was through the roof Monday, so was the number of people eating for 25 percent off.

So how long will the discount last?

Bouvier would only commit to indefinitely.

Call Star reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter: @RbtKing.