Eating New Orleans Po Boys (Pictures)

[Jason Perlow]

NOTE: This topic is part of the Eating New Orleans series.

Ye Olde College Inn

3016 South Carrollton Ave

504 866 3683

Hankering for Po Boys on Sunday, we headed straight for Ye Olde College Inn for its Zydeco brunch.

Live entertainment on Sunday.

The Oyster Loaf is big enough to feed two people, its utterly LOADED with fried oysters. If you are there just on your lonesome, order the "Oyster on French". It's the same thing, but half the size.

Ye Olde College Inn makes great onion rings.

Grillades and Grits are a traditional New Orleans breakfast item.

[Jinmyo]

Aren't grillades browned veal? Where's the veal?

[Jason Perlow]

Parkway Bakery & Tavern

538 Hagan Ave.

504-482-3047

Parkway is located on the site of an old Po Boy shop (circa 1920's) owned by the Timothy family. Originally the site baked its own bread, but water damage in the 1970's stopped that practice and it bought its bread from other vendors. In 1995 the shop closed. Proprietor Jay Nix purchased the property and renovated it in 2004, filling it with all kinds of Po-boy and New Orleans food ephemera. The Po boys served here are true classics.

The counter where your Po Boys are ordered.

The restaurant is decorated with all sorts of classic New Orleans food and drink ephemera.

Barq's root beer, in the bottle. An entire Coca-Cola fridge is dedicated to storing them.

Roast Beef Po Boys, the restaurant's specialty.

Hot Sausage Po Boy

Shrimp Po boy

Hubig Pies. Made with seasonal louisiana produce, the crust on these fried pies are amazing, because they are made with beef tallow. They are also not preserved like other fried pies on the market, like Hostess, so they have a limited shelf life of about a week.

Hubig Pie Closeup.

Closeup of the ingredients list.

[Jason Perlow]

Aren't grillades browned veal? Where's the veal?

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Buried underneath all that grits.

[Jason Perlow]

Crabby Jack's

428 Jefferson Hwy

504-833-CRAB

Crabby Jack's is the creation of Jacques Leonardi, the owner of Jacques-Imo's. Its a lunch-only seafood place that's in Jefferson, a neighborhood that is mostly commercial businesses. Its a locals joint, serving the freshest possible seafood and truly amazing Po Boys.

The Shrimp Po Boy, which is utterly overflowing with shrimp.

Locals crowd Crabby Jacks during lunch hour.

A Plate of fried oysters and Jambalaya. These were perhaps some of the best fried oysters we had during the entire week -- big and juicy.

Rabbit Po Boy. Tastes just like chicken.

Duck Po Boy.

The "Un-Fergi". Ham and Roast Beef with debris gravy. Probably one of the most outstanding sandwiches I have ever had. Notice that Crabby Jacks uses a somewhat different type of bread than the typical Po Boy, and he uses premium green leaf lettuce instead of the usual iceberg. Good tomatoes too.

Excellent Cole Slaw.

[pyrguy]

Man, now you got me homesick...

I grew up on Bayou LaFourche about 30 miles by air and 90 by road.

[Pan]

Everything looks totally amazing! If you're still there, enjoy the rest of your stay.

[Rachel Perlow]

Wait, we didn't order that shrimp po-boy. That's Jason bugging neighboring tables for pictures of their food for your enjoyment! There were three of us there that day, JoAnn Clevenger of The Upperline restaurant joined us on her day off for lunch and dinner. JoAnn and I shared the duck and paneed rabbit, while Jason ordered the Un-Fergie, and oysters for the table. There were hands down the best fried oysters of the week. One I had was positively pornographic, in more ways than one! (You can just see it there in the center/lower half of the picture, now look at it sideways...)

I think that was the only jambalaya we had last week, it was quite good, worth ordering among a long list of sides.

The duck reminded me of pulled pork, it was rich and moist, and a light topping of coleslaw made it perfect. The paneed rabbit was nice and crunchy, but really tasted like veal or chicken more than rabbit. And it's not like I've never had rabbit before. I guess the lack of rabbit shaped pieces threw me off. Good self-service iced tea, work man's lunch counter and shared tables. Totally worth the drive or cab ride, if necessary.

Aren't grillades browned veal? Where's the veal?

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Ye Olde College Inn's Grillades and Grits was the first Grillades and Grits I'd ever tried. It was a really thick stew, there were chunks of meat in there, but it was a little salty to my taste. I did really like the grits though. Later on, I sampled the Grillades and Grits as made at Upperline, way more better.

That oyster loaf had about 2 dozen oysters on it. It was only my second day, but already I'm starting to get over my oyster cravings! Really, for sharing between the two of us, we should have just gotten a regular sized oyster poboy (or as they say, "on french").

As for the Parkway, it was highly recommended by eGullet's TAPrice as well as in the book, and I was in the mood for a roast beef po-boy that night. I had a salad too. It was big and quite good. Nice crisp greens. Jason wondered why I kept ordering salads (he'd refuse to photograph them!), but with all the rich food, sometimes you just need a salad, if you know what I mean.

[Varmint]

The Oyster Loaf is big enough to feed two people, its utterly LOADED with fried oysters. If you are there just on your lonesome, order the "Oyster on French". It's the same thing, but half the size.

Tell me that the 4 pieces on this plate represent 2 oyster loaves and not just 1!!!

[Jason Perlow]

Nope, that's a single oyster loaf. And they are big peices at that.

Actually I was somewhat disappointed that the only distinction between a "Oyster Loaf" and a "Oyster Po Boy" at this place was the size of the portion. As I understand, at Casamento's, an "Oyster Loaf" is served on Pan Bread, not French Bread. Casamento's is also unique in that it fries its oysters in LARD. We didn't get to Casamento's, as it was closed for the season the day before we got into town.

http://casamentosrestaurant.com/menu/menu.html

[TAPrice]

But Jason, that just gives a reason to come back again. Casamento's is really worth a return trip.

[Jinmyo]

Duck, rabbit etc. Nice.

[Jason Perlow]

But Jason, that just gives a reason to come back again. Casamento's is really worth a return trip.

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I'm hoping to get back about the time it reopens. I'm totally jonesing for Lard-fried Oysters.

[Jason Perlow]

Liuzzas's By The Track

1518 N. Lopez * New Orleans, LA 70119

504-943-8667

http://www.nola.com/sites/liuzzas/

Liuzza's is a fun casual bar type place right by the racetrack -- while they have a full menu, the place has made itself famous with its Barbecue Shrimp Po Boy. Of course, we had to try it.

As you can see, the place gets totally packed.

The BBQ shrimp Po Boy isn't as much a traditional Po Boy but a small loaf of French Bread that has been hollowed out on the inside and completely stuffed with small shrimps in a buttery, peppery sauce with Tabasco in it. It's amazing, but be extremely careful -- those shrimps are like hot lava, and the sandwich needs some time to cool down. Of course, if you are like us, you'll eat it gleefully while burning the roof of your mouth off.

Oyster Rockefeller soup, another one of the Liuzzas' specialties. Its very good, but unlike the sandwich, its not something I would cross town for.

[Daniel]

Oh my god that hollowed out shrimp sandwich reminds me of a god father blunt.. Ok, i am making my way over to Jaques-Imos NYC.. I cant take it anymore..

Edited June 19, 2005 by Daniel (log)

[Rachel Perlow]

That barbecue shrimp po-boy was one of the best things we ate on our trip. Definitely worth the drive, the trouble finding parking and the wait for a table!

[Jason Perlow]

NOLAcuisine.com reports that Joe Casamento Jr., proprietor of Casamento's Restaurant, known for their famed Oyster Loaves (with oysters deep fried in lard) passed away during the night Katrina hit.

Joe Casamento Jr, RIP

[Jason Perlow]

NOLA.com reports on the death of Joe Casamento:

Joseph Casamento (1925-2005)

Casamento took on every task at the restaurant, with the exception of cooking. He was allergic to corn, and thus couldn't be around the fried seafood, which is dusted in corn flour. The career restaurant professional wasn't keen on spicy food or culinary exploration of any kind.

"When he evacuated for Ivan, some friends took him to an IHOP," C.J. said. "That was the first restaurant (besides Casamento's) he'd been to in 36 years."

[Jason Perlow]

I thought everyone would think this is amusing:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8...6995761&q=poboy

[HungryC]

Can anyone out there translate the dialogue for me? The poboy doesn't look half-bad.

[Rachel Perlow]

Do only the Popeyes in Japan have that crawfish poboy? I want one! I'll have to check to see if our local Popeyes plans on serving it. Their jambalaya is pretty good.

[I_call_the_duck]

Do only the Popeyes in Japan have that crawfish poboy? I want one! I'll have to check to see if our local Popeyes plans on serving it. Their jambalaya is pretty good.

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I love Popeyes! I may have been imagining things, but I think the one in Astoria, Queens sells crawfish poboys.

[joiei]

the seafood must be a store by store thing. Here we only get chicken, no shrimp, no crawfish, even though I have begged.