The Battle of New Orleans

     Having returned from my most recent culinary research I am still recovering from the crowded street scene on Oak Street in New Orleans during the Po'boy Festival held there.  It has been touted as the "Best Food Festival" in the entire state of Louisiana, and for good reason.  Over thirty vendors set up shop along the mile long stretch of Oak Street to vie for bragging rights for their own version of the iconic sandwich made famous by the Martin brothers.  (see VinnyPost June 6 "What's in a Name?")

     I rode the St. Charles Avenue street car out to Carrolton Avenue and fortunately arrived just before the start of the event at 11 am.  I was then able to survey all the many variations on a theme and thus map out my strategy for judging which po'boy deserved my vote as best in category.  It was a daunting challenge to contrast and compare with such a wide variety of ingredients to choose from.  There were poultry, seafood, beef,  pork and vegetarian po'boys on sale, along with various sides like Cajun fries, potato salad and of course red beans and rice.

     Only learning about the French Canadian delicacy, Poutine, a few weeks earlier at the Minnesota State Fair, I first tried a po'boy made with the familiar ingredients of fries cooked in duck fat, cheese curds, gravy and shredded beef.  I could tell that I was a long way from Quebec after one bite.  But apparently few of the 50,000+ fair goers knew the difference and voted it a favorite.

     Next I tried a barbecued shrimp po'boy and enjoyed the bite of the remoulade that lined the Leidenheimer roll.  It gave me the impetus to move on and chow down on a sesame oyster po'boy next, which was just OK, but nothing memorable.  Finally as the crowd swelled to epic proportion I waited in line for a fried soft shell crab po'boy.  It was worth the trip!

     There were many others I did not try, either for lack of creativity or length of line to wait for such exotic offerings as the fried lobster po'boy.  That line went down the block and around the corner for a $9 sandwich.  When it became impossible to walk along the street vendors without bumping into another fair goer, I decided to get back on the street car and return to my little sanctuary at "The Chimes" in the Garden District.

     In the coming days I will report on more of my culinary research in The Crescent City.