Almost Every Po'Boy at the Oak Street Po'Boy Festival.

Ah, the humble po’boy sandwich. The meek little sandwich served up by Benny and Clovis Mavin to workers for free during a streetcar strike in 1929 has become the most regularly consumed item on the New Orleans diet. It comes in oh so many varieties, with just about any filling you can imagine.


We went to the Oak Street Po’Boy Festival on November 20th to see how the Crescent City celebrates this simple dish. While we were there, we photographed just about every different po’boy offered (Pascal’s Manale’s BBQ Shrimp Po’Boys were already long gone before we could shoot one). They ranged from the traditional cochon de lait and fried shrimp versions to turkey and cranberry and to Bananas Foster.

So, how about those po’boys? Here they all are:

Semolina's Italian Meatball and Marinara Po'Boy

Zen Rotisserie & Grill's Thai Rib Po Boy with Slaw and Thai Vinaigrette

Original New Orleans Fried Shrimp Po'Boy

Original New Orleans Meatball Po'Boy

Original New Orleans Po'Boy Chicken & Sausage Jambalaya

Crescent Pig & Sausage Company's Hot Sausage with Collard Greens Po'Boy

Mahoney's Homemade Meatball Po'Boy

Mahoney's Mississippi Rabbit Sandwich with Pecans

Ninja Restaurant's Yakaniku (Beef) Po'Boy, dressed & undressed

Ninja Restaurant's Stir Fry King

Ninja Restaurant's Soft Shell Crab Po'Boy

Ninja Restaurant's Vegetable (Potato Patty) Po'Boy

Ninja Restaurant's Sashimi Po'Boy

Vincent's Godfather Po'Boy with meatballs, Italian sausage, brisket & marinara

Saltwater Grill's Cochon de Lait Po'Boy

Saltwater Grill's Crawfish and Spinach Boat

The Ridge Bistro's Shrimp Remoulade Po'Boy

The Ridge Bistro's Portabella Mushroom Po'Boy

Michael Joyner Catering's Crabmeat Cheesecake (fantastic!)

Michael Joyner Catering's BBQ Pork and Coleslaw Po'Boy

O'Henry's Shrimp and Andouille Sausage Po'Boy

O'Henry's takes great humor with its Crawfish Balls

Squeal BBQ's Pulled Pork and Slaw Po'Boy

Robert Fresh Market's Roast Beef Debris Po'Boy

Robert Fresh Market's Boiled Shrimp

Robert Fresh Market's Cajun Jambalaya

Robert Fresh Market Bread Pudding with Hot Whiskey Sauce

Ya Ka Mein Shrimp and Crabmeat Po'Boy

Beef and Shrimp Ya Ka Mein

Ya Ka Mein Pork Chop Po'Boy

C and J Creole Stuffed Crab Po'Boy, naked

C and J Catering Creole Stuffed Crabmeat Po'Boy

Grand Isle's Roast Beef Po'Boy, fully dressed

Spitale's Dirty Turkey Po'Boy

Another view

WOW Cafe's Shanghai Shrimp Po'Boy

Martin Wine Cellar's Steamboat Po'Boy with corned beef, ham, bacon, Swiss

Coquette's Cochon de Lait with Collard Green Slaw

Lots of Croquette's Po'Boys

Bourbon House's Bourbon BBQ Shrimp Po'Boy

Dickie Brennan's Prime Rib Debris Po'Boy

Jack Dempsey's Stuffed Crab Po'Boy

Jack Dempsey's Shrimp Remoulade Po'Boy

Emeril's Delmonico's Confit Pork Cheek Po'Boy with Tangy Slaw

Sammy's Food Service's Homemade Garlic Stuffed Roast Beef Po'Boy

Sammy's Food Service's RayRay Po'Boys with fried chicken, Chisesi ham & Swiss

Katie's Crab Cake Po'Boys

Red Fish Grill's Oyster Po'Boy

Tracey's Smoked Sausage with Caramelized Kraut assembly

Tracey's Smoked Sausage and Caramelized Kraut Po'Boy with Coleslaw

Palace Cafe's Oysters Rockefeller Po'Boy

Palace Cafe uses a guide to cut its po'boys

Palace Cafe's White Chocolate Bread Pudding

Al's By The River's Roast Beef Po'Boy

Al's By The River's strange Catfish patty po'boy

Parkway Bakery Turkey Po'Boy with Giblet Gravy and Cranberry Sauce

Parkway Bakery Beef with Horseradish Po'Boy

Parkway Bakery Cajun Pork Tenderloin Po'Boy

Saltwater Grill Bananas Foster Po'Boy

GW Fins Lobster Po'Boy

Squeal BBQ's Pulled Pork BBQ sandwich naked and dressed

Le Citron Bistro Grits and Grillades Po'Boy

Jacques-Imo's Fried Green Tomato and Shrimp Remoulade Po'Boy

Jacques-Imo's Fried Chicken and Potato Salad

Jacques-Imo's Slow Roasted Duck Po'Boy

Chiba's Panko Crusted Oyster Po'Boy and Shrimp Tempura Po'Boy

A view of Grav shooting the Chiba sandwiches

Woody's Fish Tacos... er, tacos

Fish for Woody's Fish Tacos tacos

Castellor Pharmacy's Red Beans & Rice Po'Boy

O' Vegasm's BBQ Pulled Jackfruit Po'Boy

O' Vegasm's Vegenaise

One Restaurant's Pate and Pickled Vegetable Po'Boy

Barcelona's Garlic Shrimp Po'Boy

Oak Street Cafe's Muffaletta Po'Boy

Oak Street Cafe's General Lee Po'Boy with egg, cheese, gravy and sausage

Vaucresson's Hot Creole Sausage Po'Boy

Vaucresson's Creole Crawfish Sausage Po'Boy

Vaucresson's sausages

Gattuso's Sloppy Roast Beef Po'Boy

Another view of Gattuso's Sloppy Roast Beef Po'Boy

Gattuso's Fried Shrimp Po'Boy

Boucherie's BBQ Shrimp Po'Boy

Boucherie's Pulled Pork Po'Boy

Seither's Boiled Shrimp Remoulade Po'Boy

Another view of Seither's Boiled Shrimp Remoulade Po'Boy

Seither's Seafood Gumbo

Blue Dot Donuts' Thai Pulled Pork BBQ Po'Boy

Blue Dot Donuts' Vanilla Ice Cream Filled Dougnut Bananas Foster

Other shots taken at the festival:

Yes, there were beads thrown.

Blue Frog Chocolate's Icy Hot Chocolate

Bread for Seither's Po'Boys

This woman is passionate about Parkway Bakery

Brownies!

Shots of the crowd, early on.  By 1pm it was packed for the entire length of the festival.

Some folks are crazier about their po'boys than others.

While there were tables here and there, there were few seats

What would the festival have been without the Bone Tones and a Grand Marshal?

We later discovered dude had eaten the meat out of his sandwich before the photo

Hubig's fabulous fried pies

Takes a lot of bread to pull in the dough

In addition to the three stages of music, smaller groups gathered on sidewalks.

And... we're done here.

Almost, that is.

So, which po'boys were the best?  Check out this listing over at NewOrleans.com and see for yourself.