Killer Po-Boy Sandwich & Seafood Gumbo Brings Back PubClub’s Foodie Blogger
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Foodie Blogger
New Orleans is full of long-standing traditional restaurants, places that have that great NOLA food like gumbo and muffalettas and a long list of “best” and “original.”
So it’s often hard to know where to go to eat, especially in the confusing French Quarter; confusing only in that there are so many restaurants and they all kind of blend together like some kind of roux.
I was facing this very dilemma, walking around the Quarter in kind of a dazzled daze, getting hungry, wanting something – well, New Orleans – and wondering where to walk into, when I texted a local friend. One of the places she recommended was Johnny’s Po-Boy. “Been there since 1950,” she messaged.
It’s on St. Louis Street and I happened to be at Decatur and St. Louis and when I turned the corner there it was – bingo!
I’ve generally not sought out po-boys while in New Orleans because they are really just sandwiches on a french roll and if I’m having a sandwich in the Big Easy it’s going to be a muffaletta, and it’s going to be a muffaletta from Central Grocery.
Yet after one bite of the Johnny’s shrimp po-boy, my eyes opened wide and I nearly blurted out “Kevbeaux, taste what you’ve been missing, you fool!”
Oh my, it was good.
I don’t know what it is about it, but that combination of the fried shrimp with that bread just works perfectly together. Eat a piece of the shrimp by itself and it’s just fairly good, but inside that bread it sends tastebud tingles through the spine.
“It’s the bread,” a local friend of my local friend told me. “It’s not like regular french bread. Ours is different here in New Orleans.” Then she shrugged, as if to say that’s the way it is so don’t try to analyze it, just enjoy it.
I got the po-boy on my second of four days in New Orleans and since I couldn’t quit thinking about it, had it again before I got on the plane to return home. Talk about leaving NOLA with a taste of New Orleans!
I’ll add this, too; I ordered the shrimp po-boy and seafood gumbo combo ($10.95). And the gumbo is gooood. Really, really good. So that combo satisfies two Nawleans food desires – the po-boy and gumbo.
Johnny’s is an old, well worn place. I don’t think they’ve painted since they opened, but that’s okay. You’re not here for atmosphere, you’re hear for a good, basic New Orleans meal. There’s a help-yourself soda fountain and a cooler with beers.
Seating is in a small front area – and don’t be bashful about plopping down next to someone else – with more tables in the back. The po-boys cost $11-15.
Johnny’s PoBoy Location, Address & Map
511 St. Louis Street (corner of Decatur)
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