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. Continue reading →