Po Boys, Po Boys, Po Boys

Chances are pretty high that if you’re going to New Orleans and someone you know has already been there and you’re talking to them about New Orleans, they will say something to the effect of “OMG OMG G O JOMGOGMGOMG PO BOYS DDROOOOL.”  Sure enough, New Orleans is awash (hehehe) in Po Boys, their version of a Hoagie/Grinder/Sub/Whatever. From reading entirely too much on the matter, I came to find that the only functional difference between a Po Boy and any other sandwich/sub on Earth is the use of French bread – which is actually great, since the crust is nice and crisp while the inside is soft. Wonderful for sandwiches without a lot of runny toppings, but in the event that you throw on some gravy fries (as I did) onto your sandwich, you’re gonna end up with a really soggy mess on the bottom.

Case in point: the Ferdi. This rather famous sandwich prepared by Mother’s Restaurant comes on French bread with baked ham, roast beef, debris (in gravy), shredded cabbage, creole mustard and mayo. To be certain, it’s one of the best sandwiches ever and I’d eat an entire plate of debris by itself. But the gravy goes straight to the bottom of the bread and causes it to disintegrate, leaving you with a pile of stuff to eat.

Then again, if you’re like me you’ll eat the whole thing in 2 minutes flat and not have to worry about it. Yeaaaah buddy.

Furthermore, it also seems like the most popular thing to do for 99% of all restaurants serving Po Boys around town is to pile them to the ceiling with fried seafood. Fried oysters, fried shrimp, fried gator tails, fried catfish, fried crawdads, fried fries, it goes on like that for a while (but no fired clams, surprisingly!). It actually begs the question: Why doesn’t Baltimore do this? We’re pretty obsessed with seafood on the whole and I rarely see fried insert seafood here subs around town. Come to think of it, a lake trout Po Boy would be pretty awesome…

To the point, you can’t go anywhere in New Orleans without tripping over a Po Boy. They’re everywhere. Most places do a serviceable job of putting together a nice sandwich for you but real trick is finding the best ones – much like finding a decent deli pretty much anywhere, anymore. So if you go, try Domilese’s, Mother’s, or Sugar Shack. You won’t be disappointed!

…and for an honorable mention try Tomatillo’s for their “niño pobre,” which is basically just a wrap but they were pretty awesome folks and have live music (including a rockabilly version of “When The Saints go Marching In”) often times.

A week or so ago I had the pain/pleasure of spending some time in New Orleans during what must have been the coldest four day period in the history of New Orleans, with the exception of the last ice age (maybe). And since walking around the Garden District seemed less appealing in freezing rain, I ate. And ate and ate and ate. Here’s some of what I ate.

Breakfast in New Orleans

First and easiest of all, Cafe Du Monde. Every single tourist in the city can be found there every morning and it’s not hard to figure out why; they serve two things – coffee and doughnuts. I don’t know when the Cafe decided to start calling them beignets officially but I’m guessing it has something to do with the place being house within “The original French Market.” Regardless, I found photographic evidence that they did in fact used to just call them “Doughnuts.”

All this aside, realistically beignets are remarkably similar in every way imaginable to one food thing in particular: FUNNEL CAKE. They taste the exact same and have the exact same consistency. So from now on, I will refer to Cafe Du Monde as “That funnel cake place.” And so should you.

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Fortunately, if coffee and funnel cake isn’t your thing there are plenty of places to grab a full service breakfast in the Crescent City. My favorite place for a regular ol’ breakfast turned out to be Daisy Dukes, a 24/7 diner type place with a pretty awesome breakfast menu, including a cajun omelet (pictured, with sausage/onion/parsley/tomato/paprika/black pepper) with all the fixins for $8.95 – not too shabby.

And of course, the holy grail of all breakfast experiences in New Orleans is the vaunted Jazz Brunch. There are numerous, numerous places to enjoy a decent Sunday brunch with some hoppin’ jazz music, but after much deliberation I settled on a place called Buffa’s Lounge, a fairly low key locals bar with a Jazz Brunch featuring a special menu every week. The folks there are super friendly and make some fantastic home cooked meals. For more PR, check out their video for a bit of the experience!

So that’s some of what you can expect from breakfast in New Orleans. Stay tuned for part 2!!

Most of you probably think that New England Clam Chowder is the be all and end all of chowders and blah blah blah there’s no other way to do it but GUESS WHAT I DON’T LIKE CREAM BASED SOUPS so without further ado I present to yall one of the greatest most amazing recipes for Manhattan Clam Chowder, presented by one of the most greatest most amazing grocery stores on Earth, Stew Leonard’s. It is delicious.

INGREDIENTS : 6 slices chopped bacon 2 cups diced onions (about 2 large onions) 1 cup diced celery (about 2 stalks) 1 cup diced carrots (about 2 large carrots) 1 cup clam juice 2 cups diced tomatoes 2 cups tomato juice 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 bay leaf 1 cup diced potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes) 28-ounce can of chopped clams Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS :

1. In a pan over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until it is crisp. Remove the bacon and drain the majority of the grease. Leave more or less, depending on how much you’re comfortable with (I usually leave a tablespoon or two at most).

2. Add the onions to the remaining grease and cook until golden. Add all of the
other ingredients except the clams and the potatoes and cook for
15 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add the potatoes and clams and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Add salt and freshly ground black pepper and taste.

(photo not by me coz my camera is horrible)

It was called to my attention while I was away last week that a particular Baltimore Restaurant Events Examiner (quite the mouthful), Jasmine Touton, has given wicked mad props to the WILDLY POPULAR and current long term City That Breeds project, NachoQuest. Knowing full well what she’s talking about, she had the following to say about NachoQuest:

Nacho Quest 2009 is nothing short of genius.

Well stated, Jasmine, well stated.

BONUS PIC: Here are some nachos I made while on vacation. The best nachos in Baltimore are the ones you make yourselves, folks!

KICKASS NACHOS

After a mere 24 hours of attempting to scientifically determine who has the greatest nachos in the Baltimore area, it has become apparent that a number of qualities, exceptions, and/or ground need to be established as to what will and will most certainly not win points in the “Yeah these are good nachos” column. Obviously a stringent set of Nacho Laws must be a living, breathing work in process; given that, I present the beginnings of what will be the gold standard by which all nachos are judged.

THE NACHO MANIFESTO

1. The base of the nachos must be chips – it can be any kind of corn chip, soy chip, or god forbid root vegetable chip. Despite their high level of awesomeness, waffle fries with nacho toppings are still just cheese fries with vegetables.
2. The chips absolutely must have toppings other than just cheese – movie nachos are not real nachos.
3. If the establishment in question issues the practice of presenting a huge pile of nachos with a layer of toppings ONLY on the top with a core of untouched chips, more than likely they will not make the cut in terms of quality.
4. Despite the fact that meat is undoubtedly capable of making a plate of nachos truly special, it is not a necessity. Totally rockin’ nachos can stand on their own with the perfect blend of cheeses, jalapenos, pico and whatever other toppings the artisan deems worthy.

…more to come. like I said, living breathing work in process.