Buster Holmes: The King of Red Beans

In New Orleans, the name Buster Holmes brings back memories of good food and heartfelt stories of the legendary man. His story is similar to that of New Orleans itself, based on resilience, generosity, and a love of feeding people. His legacy still lingers in the soul of the French Quarter.

Buster Holmes at his restaurant in 1981. (NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Clarence “Buster” Holmes was born on New Year’s Day in 1907 in Pointe-a-la-Hache, Louisiana. His father was a farmer, trapper, and fisherman. After helping his father hunt, the young Buster would cook with his mother. He learned how to prepare alligators, raccoons, squirrels, and other wild game along with how to season them properly with fresh herbs and spices.

In 1923, the Holmes family relocated to New Orleans when he was about sixteen. Since he was old enough to work, he became a longshoreman on the Mississippi River hauling cargo. To help supplement his income, he began to sell sweet potato pies and po’boys to the dockworkers. Around 1944 he opened a small counter cafe on Dumaine Street near Rampart in the French Quarter. This became a popular spot for the nearby workers.

Buster had carved out a place for himself in the French Quarter and moved to a larger spot at the corner of Burgundy Street and Orleans Avenue in 1960. This new restaurant, Buster Holmes Restaurant, would become legendary. His kitchen was a haven, a place where laborers, artists, and tourists alike could gather over plates of red beans and rice. And when the restaurant first opened, that plate cost just 26 cents — a price that welcomed everyone to the table. By the early 80s, the cost of that same plate of red beans was determined by a sliding scale of what the customer could afford, which was usually about $1.

Buster Holmes didn’t just feed the city; he nurtured it. His recipes were simple, honest, and full of flavor, embodying the essence of Creole cuisine. But it wasn’t just the food that drew people in. It was his spirit — warm, inclusive, and unwaveringly kind. He treated every customer like family, creating a communal space where the lines of class and race blurred beneath the common love of a good meal.

“My red beans are really nothing different,” he said in an interview in 1981. “But they are cooked right. I put in all the seasonings – onions, garlic, bell pepper – at once and let the whole thing cook down.”

His restaurant became a cornerstone of the French Quarter, a place where stories were shared as freely as second helpings. Musicians, especially those from the city’s vibrant jazz scene like the musicians from the nearby Preservation Hall, often filled the small dining room with impromptu performances. Legends like Louis Armstrong and Fats Domino were known to stop by for a plate of Buster’s famous red beans. His place became more than a restaurant — it was a living, breathing part of New Orleans’ cultural fabric.

Buster Holmes at his restaurant in 1981. (NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Through the decades, as New Orleans evolved, Buster Holmes remained a constant, a guardian of the city’s culinary and musical heritage. His unassuming restaurant stood as a testament to the city’s resilience, a place where people from all walks of life could come together in harmony.

Though he passed away in 1994, his legacy endures. Today, his name is still synonymous with red beans and rice, a dish that tells a story of survival, community, and unwavering generosity. In every pot of beans simmering on a Monday stove, in every gathering of friends around a shared meal, the legend of Buster Holmes lives on—a reminder of how one man fed the soul of New Orleans, one plate at a time.

Buster Holmes has been an inspiration for me and I hope to continue to share his legacy and honor the King of the Red Bean.

You can listen to my Buster Holmes-inspired Playlist for Your Kitchen by following this link called Red Beans and Music.

{photo credit: Philip Denman}

If you own the Buster Holmes Restaurant Cookbook: New Orleans Handmade Cookin’ (Pelican Press), you’ll see Holmes on the cover standing outside of his restaurant door. This photograph was taken in the late 60s by Philip M. Denman and used by Pelican Press as the cover of their editions of the cookbook. I was able to talk to Denman. He is a fascinating man.

You can read about him here: PHILIP DENMAN: How Do You Red Bean? 

If you have any memories of eating at Buster Holmes Restaurant, please let me know in the comments below.

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Red Beans and Eric

Eric Olsson is the food blogger of RedBeansAndEric.com. He publishes new recipes and interviews weekly. He has developed recipes and written articles for the famous Camellia brand in New Orleans, Louisiana. He has been mentioned in Louisiana Cookin‘ magazine and has had recipes featured in Taste of Home magazine – with his Creole Turkey recipe being runner up in their annual Thanksgiving recipe contest. He lives outside of Detroit, Michigan, with his wife and four children.