A long list of vendors including Boucherie, Coquette, Delachaise, Grand Isle, Jacques-Imo's, Mahoney's, Parkway, and Vaucresson Sausage will serve po-boys ranging from the traditional (oyster, shrimp) to the more unusual (tamale, bread pudding, Smoked duck with jalapeno marmalade).
Fried Maine lobster tossed in Crystal hot sauce po-boy
Some of the longest lines for food were in front of the booth selling GW Fins' Fried Lobster tossed in Crystal Hot Sauce Butter Po-Boy, which was awarded Best of Show by the judging panel.
The fate of the festival was until recently shrouded in uncertainty. Since the festival began in 2007, steadily increasing crowds have flooded Oak Street until an estimated 30,000 people attended the 2009 Po-Boy Preservation Festival.
The fate of the festival was until recently shrouded in uncertainty. Since the festival began in 2007, steadily increasing crowds have flooded Oak Street until an estimated 30,000 people attended the 2009 Po-Boy Preservation Festival.
Earlier this year, the Oak Street Association announced the festival would be moving to nearby Palmer Park because of overcrowding and safety concerns. More than 50 Oak Street merchants, angered at the potential loss of business, broke away from the OSA and formed the Oak Street Merchants, Residents, and Propterty Owners - MRPO.
The MRPO began to plan its own festival. In September, the teo groups agreed to put aside their difference and support a united Po-Boy Preservation Festival at its original Oak Street home.
The means that the Po-Boy Festival will continued to be the premiere destination for connoisseurs of dressing-slathered French bread sandwiches. The festival emphasizes the po-boy's historical importance in New Orleans cuisine.
While the sandwich's origin is cloaked in mystery, there is one story that is generally agreed on. Bennie & Clovis Martin worked as streetcar driver until opening Martin Brother's Coffee Stand & Restaurant in the French Market in 1922.
On July 1, 1929 the streetcar motormen and conductors on New Orleans went on a dramatic, violent strike. As former streetcar workers, the Martin Brothers were sympathetic to the cause, and concocted a large, filling sandwich to distribute to the striking workers.
The story goes that when they saw a striker approaching, they would say, "Here comes another poor boy."
The festival takes place on Sunday, November 14th, 2010 between 11am and 7pm on Oak Street at South Carrollton.
The lineup of sandwiches featured represents the latest in po-boy innovation. Many are being made by chefs who don’t normally make po-boys from restaurants where po-boys are not regularly served. You will also find plenty riffs on po-boy classics.
Poor boy sandwiches represent bedrock New Orleans. The shotgun house of New Orleans cuisine, Po-boys are familiar but satisfying. The sandwich is as diverse as the city it symbolizes. The crisp loaves have served as a culinary crossroads, encasing the most pedestrian and exotic of foods: shrimp, oyster, catfish, soft-shell crabs as well as French fries and ham and cheese. Comfort food in other cities seldom reaches such heights.
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