Mee-Ma's Louisiana Gumbo

🇺🇸 LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES / HISTORICAL: Most famous for her frozen gumbo bricks available in supermarkets, Mee-Ma also runs some weekend stands.

🇺🇸 UNITED STATES (Louisiana)
📍 Various locations

📸 All photos by Jared Cohee
for Eat the World Los Angeles

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📆 Original Article 05 May 2021

On some weekends, almost in the shadow of the elevated Expo/La Brea station of the Metro E line, the bright red letters spelling out "GUMBO" might grab your attention as you travel in any direction through the intersection of La Brea and Jefferson. This informal stand is a satellite of Mee-Ma's, a Compton-based business that has a gumbo trolley and sells frozen "gumbo bricks" in area grocery stores and at least the Inglewood Costco.

The stand's main product is Louisiana-style seafood gumbo, but also offers chicken and vegan versions. Upon further research, the owner was long-ago involved in an emotional episode of that shark investor show and secured a deal, although this seems to have fallen through after the filming.

Thankfully for Los Angeles, this absolutely delicious gumbo is still available at multiple locations. The price points for their featured item are $18, $24, and $30 depending on size, enough that many of the passing cars on La Brea that shouted questions would not bite.

But get in close and walk up to the stand and it makes a little more sense, as the big pot is full of king crab legs and and also stocked with chicken, sausages, and shrimp. Any order comes with a side of rice so you can eat your gumbo properly.

The $24 medium order shown above comes with about half of one of those king crab legs and all the other ingredients mentioned. Besides the quantity of everything, the roux base of the gumbo is really, really good, with shellfish and chicken both prominent.

Prices are $4-6 lower for the chicken version (below), which also uses a perfect base and makes for an excellent meal. As expected, more of the meal is made up of on-the-bone chicken, but the sausages populate the bowl as well.

If you happen to find those gumbo bricks in the freezer at your grocery or Costco, do note that they are the base of the gumbo only, so grab the fresh seafood or other meats you want to add and plan on only 45 minutes to get it all prepared and ready.

And if you see that trolley rolling down Rosecrans in Compton, make sure to hail it!

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