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Published: January 4th 2024
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Unlike some sandwiches with strict ingredient lists, you can turn almost anything into a Po' Boy. Shrimp is probably the most popular protein ingredient, but Louisiana chefs have stuffed bread full of catfish, hot sausage, roast beef, crab, oysters, and anything else caught up in the nets last weekend. Three things make a Po Boy: a unique French bread that's not quite a baguette, a typically fried protein, and, perhaps most importantly, eating them in New Orleans. Besides those key features, the sandwiches are often served with lettuce, tomatoes, a remoulade or mustard sauce, and a rich history that envelops this sandwich like the wafting scents of fresh bread.
New Orleans-based historians have spent over a decade tracking down the Po' Boy to settle once and for all where the sandwich got its stripes. It turns out this bread was baked into a good old-fashioned working-class revolution, earning its name during the 1929 streetcar strike. This was no simple protest -- streetcars were being ripped off their tracks as locals united against taking a ride. New Orleans had seen ham and fried oyster sandwiches before the calamity, but it was two former conductors turned sandwich shop owners, the Martin
(Clovis and Ben) brothers, who elevated a sandwich into an icon when they used them to feed the "poor boys" left jobless by the strike.
Where to get the best? Today’s po-boys vary in style, and you can ask any New Orleanian where to get the best po-boy in the city and almost everyone will tell you to go to a different place. Po-boy restaurants are as much a part of personal identity as the neighborhood you grew up in–like a family heirloom, po-boy preference is often handed down from generation to generation. There is one important thing to remember about po-boys – allegiance aside–it’s hard to find a bad po-boy anywhere in this city and its nearly impossible not to stumble upon an amazing one (or two or three). Some iconic favorites include
Parkway Bakery and
Domilise's. Check out our
Po-boy Roundup for more recommendations. You can find a full list on where to get the po-boy sandwich below.
The bread is the most important part – crispy and flaky on the outside, and unbelievably soft on the inside. French bread is taken very seriously and for the perfect po-boy, anything other than locally made breads simply won't do.
Then you add the bulk of the sandwich – fried shrimp, oysters, catfish, soft-shell crab, or roast beef smothered in gravy. Top that off with the "fixin's" – pickles, hot sauce, lettuce, mayo, etc., and you'll quickly find yourself indulging in one of the best culinary creations known to man. Order like a local and request your sandwich "dressed" – which means you want all of the toppings. Po-Boys are also best paired with a cold bottle of Barq's Root Beer or local brews such as Abita.
There are many names for
a sandwich on a length of Italian or French bread split horizontally and filled with cold cuts, cheese, vegetables, and dressing: submarine, sub, grinder, hero, hoagie, spuckie, zeppelin, zep–the list goes on. All are delicious, but an authentic poor boy is served on French bread and has distinctly Southern and working-class origins. Some may view the poor boy as a variation on a sub, which originated in Italian immigrant neighborhoods in the northeast, but the poor boy has more in common with the oyster loaf that got its start in New Orleans and San Francisco.
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