Po-Boy — Born from a Strike

A four-month strike against the streetcar company in 1929 produced the city's defining sandwich. Benny and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors from Raceland who had opened a restaurant in 1921, fed their striking colleagues free sandwiches. Benny Martin later reminisced that they jokingly referred to an incoming diner as "another poor boy" if he turned out to be one of the strikers. The name stuck. The bread is what makes it. New Orleans French bread uses less flour and more water than a baguette—a recipe developed in the 1700s when the Gulf South's humid climate made wheat scarce and flour expensive. The result is a wetter dough that bakes into something lighter and fluffier, with a crisp crust and fluffy crumb. John Gendusa's bakery first baked the bread for the sandwich in 1929. Today the two primary sources are Leidenheimer Baking Company and Alois J. Binder. Fillings run from roast beef with gravy to fried shrimp, fried oysters, fried crawfish, fried catfish, hot sausage. "Dressed" means shredded lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced pickles, and mayonnaise—always specify. Roast beef po' boys are often served with "debris," the bits of meat that fall during cooking and render into near-gravy. Parkway Bakery & Tavern and Domilise's are two of the most revered shops. In mid-November the Oak Street Po'Boy Festival runs along a commercial strip in Carrollton, with live music and best-of awards that push chefs to invent. New Orleans has grand restaurants, but the po' boy shop remains one of the most basic units of the city's food culture—a place that will also serve you red beans and rice, jambalaya, seafood platters. Resident opinions on the best shop vary widely. The competition is fierce.