Parkway Bakery and Tavern opened over 100 years ago and became a part of the ‘poor boy’ sandwich movement.  There was a strike of streetcar drivers and motormen in the 1920s and The Martin Brothers Coffee Stand and Restaurant developed a sandwich of french fries topped with a little beef gravy on French bread.  The owners would call out “Here comes another poor boy” when one of the strikers approached and they would get a free sandwich.  Parkway began selling these sandwiches to the nearby American Can Company workers and added the free sandwich for striking workers.  The Great Depression made the workers lose this strike but the invention of the “poor boy” won these places lots of loyal customers.  This sandwich was more like the oyster loaves, also seen in San Francisco, than the Italian sub sandwich.  A need arose to develop a bread that was squared off at the end to maximize the filling-to-bread ratio.   The sandwiches could be filled with any number of things and the name morphed into several variations like po-boy, that we see today.  This large place has a bakery as well as offering daily special fillings.  Adapting to the Covid pandemic they set up outside tents to eat in which have stayed on.  As you enter you can either go through the bar area where you order drinks and food or just the food line where non-alcoholic beverages are available.  There is seating inside in addition to music in the background and walls covered with photos and memorabilia.  A separate pick-up window looks into part of one kitchen.  Sandwiches are small(5 inches) or large(10 inches) size and the small was generous for 2.  We tried several smalls and had to feed the trash a lot of leftovers.

Set-Up

 

Food

Sandwiches come wrapped in paper.  You order them “dressed” if you want lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo included.  The oyster po’boy is made with fried Gulf Oysters and only available on Wed and Thurs.  These oysters are harvested locally and flash-fried to order. They were excellent oysters both in flavor and in frying preparation.  There were so many that they spilled out of the bread as soon as you unwrapped it.  It was delicious.

 

The shrimp po’boy also uses wild-caught Gulf shrimp that are flash-fried.  Like the oysters, their preparation was superb and they were also spilling out of the bread here.  I would have enjoyed a basket of these alone without all the bread and dressing.  These are always available.

 

One of the place’s specialties is the beef po’boy made with roast beef and gravy.  This uses a slow-roasted beef that is soaked in a savory gravy.  While it was tender and well cooked it paled in comparison to the shellfish sandwiches.  I found the beef dull and dry, but it didn’t help to be full and have the other 2 options so perfectly done.  They are really proud of this product so it may speak to you more if you don’t visit New Orleans for seafood.