Parkway Bakery and Tavern
Anecdotes & Analysis
Here is one of the most effective possible invitations to a New Orleans business meeting: "Come to our office at around noon. We're ordering in a bunch of poor boys from [someplace good]." This promise plants itself deep in the brain of the invitee, and lingers there, re-inviting. If the sandwiches come from a place that's a little bit of a bother because of the crowds, so much the better. Mother's has been cast in this role for decades, and now the Parkway Bakery is playing it, too. While the argument as to who has the best poor boys in town will never end, this one is always at the front of the pack.
Backstory
The original restaurant opened in the early 1920s, predating the invention of the poor boy sandwich by a few years. It was indeed a bakery, and continued baking French bread until sometime in the 1960s. By that time the sandwiches had become the main enterprise, and were so good that the reputation long outlived the availability of great sandwiches. The old place closed in the 1990s, but was revived in 2003 by current owner Jay Nix. Although Nix's business is construction, he had a good enough idea of what a poor boy shop should be that he made the Parkway great again.
Dining Room
You enter from a paved yard with picnic tables, pass through the line to put your order in (there will probably be quite a few people ahead of you), then find a place to wait. The best place--if you can find an open spot--is the bar. Bars are historically where the best poor boys were served, and this one has The Feel. (The tall wooden bar itself looks ancient, but Jay Nix built it himself.) Then you sit and wait to hear your name screamed.
Why It's Essential
A novelist depicting an imaginary poor boy shop would come up with a place a lot like the Parkway. It's on the corner of two back streets in a historic neighborhood, a half-block off a bayou. The premises are well, worn, and covered with New Orleans set pieces. Your grandfather may have had a poor boy there. Then as now, you never know who you'll run into in the Parklway's line. Could be the mayor, could be an unemployee. And the sandwiches are excellent, generous, and inexpensive.
Why It's Good
The Parkway Bakery cooks everything on the premises. (Except, ironically, its bread.) That's less common than one might suppose, so easy and tempting is it to buy meats and gravy ready to serve. The quality of the ingredients and the recipes are good, too--and they're always tweaking both, to get a little more flavor. The Parkway is also unusual in inventing new poor boys constantly. The turkey, dressing, gravy, and cranberry sauce poor boy, for example, was such a hit one Thanksgiving that it turns up now and then.
Most Interesting Dishes
<em><strong>Poor boy sandwiches</strong></em><br /> »Roast beef<br /> Barbecue beef<br /> »Hot pork sausage links<br /> »Hot beef sausage patties<br /> »Italian sausage or meatballs with cheese and red sauce<br /> »Grilled alligator sausage<br /> Hamburger<br /> »Ham (cold or grilled)<br /> Turkey breast (cold or grilled)<br /> Grilled chicken breast<br /> »Hot pastrami<br /> »Grilled Reuben on rye<br /> Surf and turf (roast beef with fried shrimp)<br /> Fried shrimp, oysters, or catfish, or any combination<br /> <em><strong>Other than sandwiches</strong></em><br /> Turkey and alligator sausage gumbo<br /> Potato salad<br /> Chili con carne<br /> French fries or sweet potato fries<br /> <em><strong>Desserts</strong></em><br /> Bread pudding<br /> Banana pudding<br /> Chocolate pound cake
Deficiencies
If they consistently toasted the French bread, the sandwiches would be even better.
For Best Results
This is not fast food. They make every sandwich to order and it takes a few minutes. Although they sell a lot of take-out, it's better eaten on the nostalgic premises. Try to remember that they're closed of Tuesdays.
Bonus Ratings
2
Attitude
1
Hipness
3
Local Color
2
Value