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Po-Boy Preservation Festival winners include some surprises

By Judy Walker

November 30, 2009, 11:32AM

On Sunday, November 22, Mahoney's winning chicken liver po-boy was one of three top sandwiches that included slaw of some sort. 5,000+ New Orleanians celebrated the city’s most famous sandwich on the newly renovated Oak Street corridor.

In a press release afterwards, the festival released the winners of the judged competition for the best po-boys in seven categories.

In an unusual twist, three of the winning sandwiches included some form of slaw.

This year’s winners include:

Best in Show: Grand Isle’s Shrimp Caminada
The po-boy was named in honor of Caminada, which is a fishing town west of Grand Isle wiped out in a terrible storm on October 2, 1893. The sandwich consists of shrimp sautéed in a spicy citrus butter sauce topped with herb slaw. Grand Isle will soon be adding the sandwich to their menu.

People’s Choice: New Orleans Hamburger & Seafood Co.’s Shrimp-Zilla
The sandwich consists of roast beef, fried shrimp and coleslaw.

Best Pork Po-Boy: Dong Phuong Bakery’s Vietnamese Po-Boy
The Banh Mi was quite popular with the crowds at this year’s festival. In Vietnamese, “banh mi” translates both as ‘bread’ and ‘the sandwich using that bread.’ Here in New Orleans, banh mi has become known as the ‘Vietnamese po-boy.’

Best Roast Beef Po-Boy: Gattuso’s Neighborhood Bar & Restaurant Roast Beef Po-Boy

Best Shrimp Po-Boy: Boucherie’s Barbecued Shrimp Po-boy

Best Special Seafood Po-Boy: Acme Oyster House’s Fried Oyster Po-Boy

Best Special Non-Seafood Po-Boy: Mahoney’s Po-Boy Shop’s Fried Chicken Livers & Coleslaw Po-Boy

This year’s panel of 26 judges included chef/owner Johnny Blancher of Ye Olde College Inn, who won Best of Show at the last two festivals. Other judges were Todd Price, freelancer for The Times-Picayune; Lorin Gaudin of WDSU; Camille Whitworth, report/anchor for WDSU; David Darragh, president of Reily Foods, and Robert Peyton of New O

London part II

I kinda got away from this subject, I come across pieces like the two videos and articles from the New Orleans food section and I really want to share them with you. Also I'm gonna have to sit down and think to recall my London trip, the videos and stuff like that are no brianer. But anyway, back to London.

One of the first things I noticed about London was how quite it was for such a city. The folks on the train to Victoria Station were a very civil bunch. It was obvious most were commuting to work in the city proper. Only one bloke talking to loud on cell phone. When it came to getting a cab you would que up and wait your turn if you were at a hotel or somewhere lot's of folks were waiting for cabs. When you did get a cab you didn't just get in, the cabbie would roll down the pass window and you would "ask" if he would take you to such and such place. I also noticed how few horns were blowing, it was quite quite for such a city.



We drank at many pubs. This is a photo of the Churchill Arms. The guy I was traveling with had lived in London a few years back and knew where the good puds were. He told me how the older pubs were referred to as "locals" by the locals who frequented these puds. The Arms was totally a locals place. One of the coolest bars I have ever imbibed at. He knew which puds were chain operated and steered clear of those unless we had no choice at that moment. He pointed out the extra cold Guinness tap which was referred to as "American Guinness". The Brits prefer their beer a bit less cold then us Yanks. The Guinness beer was the best tasting, freshest beer I have ever had. So I had many.

We ate as well. Traveling partner enjoys food as much as I do so we looked for a couple of gastro pubs suggested buy the Chow Hound website. We tried to eat at Anchor Hope which was first on the list, but 2 hour wait. So that night we went across the street to Live Bait. We had a good meal. Oysters, Scallop Risotto, and more. The next afternoon we had our best meal of the trip at the Atlas gastro pub, 2nd on the chow hound list. We had five minutes before the kitchen closed for lunch so we took a seat by the open fire, ordered beers and checked out the menu. We ate Rabbit with veggies and Duck three ways.



Stayed tuned!!