New Orleans Po'boy Preservation Festival

Today was the much anticipated Po'boy Preservation Festival on Oak Street. I think I'm going to keep this one more of an impressions than a blow by blow recounting, because lets be honest, who wants to hear that.

There were quite a few people

This being Nola the food was naturally amazing and the atmosphere was jubilant. For the uninitiated a "po'boy" is similar to the myriad of terms other cities use to describe a sandwich situated on a long, roll-like piece of bread. So far as I can tell the only real thing that makes a po'boy a po'boy, besides being awesome and made in Nola, is the bread, which must be French.

The Second Line Leader

What Nola gathering would be complete without a brass band?

In all I sampled some six different po'boys, which was maybe an tenth of the overall options, however I tried to maintain a solid terrestrial to seafood ratio so that I at least got wide sample.


The Best:

Fried green tomato with shrimp remoulade po-boy by Jacques-Imo's. This was hands down the best sandwich of the day. The shrimp was absolutely perfect, the remoulade was plentiful and added just the right note, and the big slice of fired tomato was simply divine. This sandwich did really well what several of the others did not, and that is balance. All-meat sandwiches have their place, but they feel way too heavy without some crisp veggies to lighten them up. Jacques-Imo's struck just the right balance.

Confit pork Cuban po-boy w/black pepper bourbon mustard by Dante's Kitchen. This is runner up for first prize. The pig is one of those wonderful animals which is delicious pretty much no matter how you prepare it, and this sandwich was no exception. My only real complaint was they could have put on a little more of the really tasty cucumber they added. It would have balanced out the really strong pork, ham, and mustard flavors and probably wold have put the sandwich over the top to make it the day's best.

Preparation is essential

The Worst:

Crawfish sausage po-boy by Vaucresson Sausage. This was my least favorite of the day. It's possible I'm just not that much of a sausage person, but crawfish sausage is no ambassador. I guess sausage is supposed to be able to carry a sandwich pretty much on its own, but with only some lettuce and tomato the sandwich seemed to be crying out form something more. Some heavy brown mustard did improve it somewhat.

Honorable Mentions:

Smoked duck po-boy with citrus jalapeno marmalade by Palace Cafe. I really like duck, so I was excited for this sandwich, however, while it was still quite good, and I don't really know what I was expecting with it being smoked and all, it was a little too salty for my taste and could probably have used some extra greens to balance it out somewhat.

Grilled shrimp and blackened avocado po-boy by Red Fish Grill. This was wonderful. The avocado was flavorful, and the grilled shrimp was a nice change of pace from the usual fried. Gulf shrimp, in my experience, can be a little bland if not seasoned properly, so it was gratifying to see it done so well with these.

Pork belly & pepper jelly po-boy by Mahony's Po'boy Shop. I'm still not really clear on what pepper jelly is, but the pork belly has a pleasant crunch, as did the virtual salad of greens. Honestly I was so stuffed by this point I could only manage a bite or two, but it was quite good nonetheless.

Oak Street has a kind of arty vibe, so it shouldn't surprise you to here that there were quite a few art stalls with some fairly interesting work.

Art this way

Hot-pads

In all it was a pretty awesome day. I'm definitely going to head back to Oak Street at some point, if only to check out the Maple Leaf Bar, which I understand has some great music.

Revelers at the Maple Leaf

Don't forget to tune in next week for my coverage of the New Orleans Fringe Festival.

Until next time gentle readers,

Ignatius