Dressed for Success

Dressed for Success

Po-boys are one of the Gulf Coast region’s most recognizable foods. And, as with gumbo and jambalaya, we can’t agree who on makes the best version. There are so many great choices that picking one po-boy is like choosing your favorite child, or your favorite Rouses Market.

We have a story in this issue on how the po-boy got its name. The most popular theory relates to the New Orleans streetcar strike in 1929, when the po-boy (usually roast beef debris on French bread) was first served to striking workers — who were called “poor boys.” The name stuck, and people have been coming up with new po-boys ever since.

How you prefer your po-boy dressed probably depends on where you grew up; this regional sandwich has its own regional varieties. In New Orleans, “dressed” usually means it’s topped with mayonnaise, lettuce, tomatoes and pickles. But for the rest of the Gulf Coast, dressed usually means mayonnaise, mustard, lettuce and tomatoes — and this is what it means to me.

For many people, including me, Olde Tyme Grocery in Lafayette serves the best shrimp po-boy on Earth

— it’s piled high with more than half a pound of large Louisiana shrimp. It comes “fully dressed” with mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce and tomatoes. (The addition of ketchup is reserved for fried seafood.) I don’t want the ketchup or the tomato — but if a tomato sneaks its way onto my sandwich, I’ll eat it.

My favorite hot roast beef sandwich comes from Darrell’s Famous Poboys in Lake Charles. The roast beef is tender and the bread sopped in gravy (to me, the messier the po-boy, the better). At Darrell’s, dressed means mayonnaise — regular or a homemade jalapeño mayo — plus mustard, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese. I get the homemade jalapeño, and so should you. And try to get there before the noon rush.

We make our own ham, turkey and roast beef po-boys at most of our Rouses stores. The bread is baked fresh daily, and we use our own fresh produce and deli meats, which we slice in-house. I think these are the best cold po-boys on the Gulf Coast. I recommend the turkey. When I remember, I take off the tomato.

Donny Rouse, CEO, 3rd Generation