Actor from the HBO’s “The Wire” to Open Grocery Store in New Orleans

One of Mr. Pierce’s treasured childhood memories is shopping on Friday nights with his mother at the local grocery store, Schwegmann’s. The chain was one of the first to sell everything — toys, jewelry and food — under one roof. He remembers his mother’s picking over the okra and peppers, and needling the fishmonger to cut her red drum just as she liked it.

At home, Mrs. Pierce made sure her two sons learned to cook. Though he admits his shrimp and okra isn’t as good as his mother’s, he coyly suggests that he has impressed quite a few guests with his kitchen skills. “To this day, that’s my little rap,” he said. “Oh, my man can cook? Yeah, baby. I cook.”

Mr. Pierce never intended to get into the food business. He attended the competitive specialty arts high school, Nocca, in New Orleans, and later the Juilliard School. His dream was to become a successful actor, a goal that was well on its way to being realized when Katrina ravaged Pontchartrain Park.

He returned to the city with the intention of rebuilding the house he grew up in, which was under 14 feet of water. But it wasn’t long, he says, before neighbors asked him to help restore the entire area.

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