Entry No. 81 — the New Orleans file — filed under: 24-hours
Melba's Old School Poboys
Melba's went up on a blighted corner at Elysian Fields and North Claiborne after Katrina and never really closed again — the listed hours read '12:00 AM – 12:00 AM,' seven days, which is the honest way of saying it never shuts. The building it occupies is shared with Wash World, so the same room that sells you a hot sausage po-boy for $11.99 also has your laundry going, and the frozen drink machines churn away in the corner while you wait. The odder wing of the operation is the literacy program founded by Jane Wolfe, which the restaurant claims is the only one of its kind inside a working restaurant and which has given away more than 20,000 books to customers, sometimes with the authors standing right there. Beyond po-boys there's 9th Ward gumbo, jambalaya, red beans, and a $9.99 Big Man Breakfast that exists specifically for people arriving at an indefensible hour. A second location runs the same 24-hour clock at 3219 Tulane Ave.
→ Three more weird eats & drinks in New Orleans — never the same twice
The story
Scott and Jane Wolfe bought a rundown market in 1982 and spent the next two decades turning it into ten restaurant locations. Hurricane Katrina took all of it. Melba's is what they built afterward, on a blighted corner where North Claiborne meets Elysian Fields, and it has effectively not closed since: both locations list their hours as 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM, seven days, which is the honest way of writing "always." The Wolfes tell the whole arc themselves in a book they co-wrote, From GED to Harvard to Inc. 500.
The building is shared with Wash World, a laundromat the Wolfes also run, open 365 days a year around the clock with thirty-plus commercial washers and dryers, free wifi, a lounge, and wash-and-fold from 99 cents a pound. So the counter that sells you a hot sausage po-boy for $11.99 or a shrimp po-boy for $15 is the same stop as your laundry, and the frozen-drink machines churn away while both cycles run. Beyond po-boys there is 9th Ward gumbo, jambalaya, red beans, and a $9.99 Big Man Breakfast built for people arriving at an hour they would rather not discuss.
The most deliberate oddity is the books. The Wolfes run what they call Lunch & Literacy: weekly signings with local authors inside the restaurant, free books handed to customers, and a reading nook they built into the laundromat itself. They describe it as the only restaurant literacy program in the world, and it has given away more than 20,000 books. Jane runs it out of [email protected] and takes donations for it. A second Melba's keeps the same 24-hour clock at 3219 Tulane Avenue, a different part of town entirely.
What it's like
It is bright, loud and fast at every hour, which is the point. You order at the counter, pay, and wait among a crowd that turns over with the clock: shift workers at dawn, tour groups at midday, the post-bar contingent at three. Dryers are running somewhere behind you, the frozen-drink machines are churning, and there is a shelf of free books you are meant to take from rather than browse politely. Nobody is dressed for this. Seating is functional and often full, so a lot of people eat in the lot, which is large because it was sized for tour buses. If you are meeting someone, name the location out loud: Elysian Fields and Tulane Avenue share a phone number and share nothing else.
The move: Roll in after the bars thin out, around 2 or 3am. Split a hot sausage po-boy and a shrimp po-boy, get two frozen drinks, and take a free book each off the shelf on the way out — then read the first page to each other in the car. It is the cheapest late-night date in the city that isn't a drive-through.
📍 Before you go Open 24/7, both locations. Order at the counter; it is loud, fluorescent and fast, not a sit-down date spot. Off-street parking exists (they built the lot for tour buses). It sits at a busy Claiborne/Elysian Fields intersection — fine at 3am, but be normal about where you park. The Tulane Ave location is a different neighborhood entirely, so confirm which one you're meeting at.
- 📍 New Orleans
- 💸 $
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 1525 Elysian Fields Ave, New Orleans, LA 70117
Hours: Added 2026-08-26 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- The AllWays Lounge & Cabaret — Two-thirds of a mile up St. Claude, the AllWays runs burlesque, drag and sideshow most nights and is strictly 21+, so its last curtain lands right around the hour a hot sausage po-boy starts making sense.
- Frenchmen Art Bazaar Night Market — The string-lit outdoor art market on Frenchmen runs to midnight and later on weekends, a short hop down Elysian Fields, which makes buying a painting and then eating at an indefensible hour a single trip.
- Clover Grill — A mile into the Quarter, Clover Grill has been griddling burgers under a hubcap around the clock since 1939 — the useful contrast, since its entire room is twelve stools and four tables while Melba's has a lot built for tour buses.
More weird in New Orleans
Good to know
Is it really open 24 hours?
Yes. Both Melba's locations list their hours as 12:00 AM to 12:00 AM, seven days a week, and the Wash World laundromat sharing the Elysian Fields building advertises itself as open 365 days a year, 24 hours a day. It is one of the few places in the city where a 4am plan is not a gamble.
There are two locations — which one?
1525 Elysian Fields Avenue, at North Claiborne on the Marigny/Ninth Ward edge, is the original and the one attached to the laundromat. 3219 Tulane Avenue is the second, in a completely different neighborhood. Both answer the same number, (504) 267-7765, so confirming the address before you split up is worth the ten seconds.
What does it cost?
Cheap by design. Hot sausage po-boy $11.99, shrimp po-boy $15, and the Big Man Breakfast $9.99. Plates run to 9th Ward gumbo, jambalaya and red beans, and the frozen drinks are their own line on the board. Prices shift, so treat these as the shape of the menu rather than a quote.
Can I actually do laundry while I eat?
At the Elysian Fields location, yes. Wash World is at the same 1525 address with more than thirty commercial washers and dryers, free wifi, a lounge, wash-and-fold from $0.99 a pound and pickup-and-delivery service; its number is 504-608-3331. The reading nook the Wolfes built is inside it.
Are the books really free, and how do I get one?
Free. The Lunch & Literacy program has given away more than 20,000 books and runs weekly signings with local authors in the restaurant, so on the right day the person handing you a book wrote it. You can join the mailing list for event notice or donate through the program; Jane Wolfe runs it from [email protected].
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site
last checked: 2026-08-26