Pableaux Johnson, a New Orleans-based photographer and writer known for regularly dishing out red beans and rice to friends and strangers at his Uptown home and on the road, died Sunday, January 26, 2025. He was 59 years old.
A fixture at New Orleans second line parades, Johnson was photographing the Ladies and Men of Unity second line when he had a heart attack and collapsed. He was transported to a local hospital, where doctors were unable to revive him. By the next day, a second line in his honor brought out friends wearing sweatshirts emblazoned with his face, remembrances from food industry folks, members of the second line community, friends, and people he might have only met once or twice poured out on social media, and people across the country cooked batches of red beans.
Johnson’s impact extended beyond New Orleans, and across the country, several celebrations of his life are in the works. In New Orleans, the Hotel Peter and Paul will host a celebration of life on Saturday, February 22 at 2 p.m. (doors open at 1:30 p.m.). At a location to be determined, a reception with red beans and rice and beer will follow from 2 to 6 p.m. In New York, Brooklyn’s Gage & Tollner will host a celebration on Monday, February 17 from 6 to 10 p.m.
Johnson was born Paul Michael Johnson on January 8, 1966 in Trenton, New Jersey. After his parents divorced, he moved with his mother and two sisters around the age of 7 to New Iberia, Louisiana, where he grew up. He moved to San Antonio to attend Trinity University, graduating in 1988 after studying history, religion, and sociology. Influenced by San Antonio’s Latino culture and the Cajun culture he grew to love in New Iberia, Johnson changed his name to Pableaux during his college years, drawing from two influential cultures in his life. He took the Spanish equivalent to Paul, Pablo, after making Latino friends in San Antonio. He gave the name a Cajun spin in the spelling, using “eaux” instead of “o” in recognition of Cajun influences in his youth in New Iberia.
He moved to New Orleans in 2001, where he became known for regular communal dinners at his home around a 10-seat dining table he inherited from his grandmother. He served red beans and rice, a simple dish revered among the New Orleans culinary canon, along with a side of cornbread. Cell phones and social media were banned — and dessert was served in the form of generously-filled glasses of whiskey.
“In the beginning, the majority of Pableaux’s red beans [and rice dinner] invitees were transplants to the city, often fresh from the U-Haul,” author Sara Roahen wrote in her book Gumbo Tales. “Because his ritual was identical to what New Orleans natives also do on Mondays, including those who open cans of Blue Runner beans, for many of us the first red bean Monday at Pableaux’s marked the first time we felt like active, meaningful participants in the local culture of domestic eating.” Roahen continues, “I don’t think it’s exaggerating to say that through the humble red bean, Pableaux single-handedly helped countless people begin to love living in this city.”
Johnson also helped numerous people who lived beyond the borders of Louisiana learn to love New Orleans food and culture through the Red Beans Road Show, his roaming pop-up where he dished out the iconic dish at restaurants across the country.
During the pop-ups, Johnson would provide the red beans and cornbread while the hosting chef or restaurant would take care of a simple appetizer and dessert. When Covid forced restaurants to close their doors, the Red Beans Road Show went on hiatus. Johnson was staging a 2025 revival of the roadshow with plans to visit Atlanta, Athens, Georgia, Brooklyn, Nashville, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Seattle, and Toronto.
In addition to taking many lauded second line photos, he was known to travel around Southern Foodways Alliance events, boucheries (communal pig butcherings that originated with the Cajuns before refrigeration), and other food events with a camera in hand, documenting people along the way. The next time he saw one of his photography subjects, he’d give them a copy of the photo.
“He made people feel he was interested in them enough personally by giving them a copy of the photo when he saw them next,” National Food and Beverage Institute founder Liz Williams said. “It was very thoughtful that he didn’t just take people’s pictures and forget them.”
His disarming style of taking photographs earned him respect among his industry peers. Cook’s Country editor-in-chief Toni Tipton-Martin, recounted on an Instagram post that she always used Johnson for her professional headshots.
Johnson’s writing appeared in The New York Times and Serious Eats, among other publications. His books included Eating New Orleans, World Food New Orleans, and ESPN’s Gameday Gourmet.
He was nominated for the James Beard Award for Newspaper Feature Writing about Restaurants and/or Chefs in 2004 for his profile of Anthony Uglesich, “End of the Lines?”. His story “Everyday Sacred: A Personal Path to Gumbo” was anthologized in the 2017 edition of Best Food Writing. Also that year, Epicurious called Johnson one of the “100 greatest home cooks of all time.”
“By communal infrastructure he meant everything that a friend might need over time. Skills, tools, food, knowledge, a listening ear, a place to sleep. He gave of them generously,” says writer and documentary filmmaker Lolis Eric Elie.
Though his name goes hand-in-hand with red beans and photos of second lines, he realized that friendships are formed through generosity, whether through a gifted photograph or a seat at his grandmother’s table, that resonated with the people who met him.
“The only person I ever knew to use the phrase ‘communal infrastructure’ in the context of friendship was Pableaux Johnson,” writer and documentary filmmaker Lolis Eric Elie wrote in The Lens NOLA. “By communal infrastructure he meant everything that a friend might need over time. Skills, tools, food, knowledge, a listening ear, a place to sleep. He gave of them generously, neither counting the cost nor expecting repayment.”
2025-02-04T21:31:33Z