New Orleans Saturday: Roadfood Fest Po’Boy

Saturday the 1st annual New Orleans Roadfood Festival kicked off on Bourbon Street. The festival was timed to coincide with the 3rd annual Oyster Jubilee, which began around noon with the assembly of the world’s longest oyster po’boy. Which begs the question, where is the world’s longest shrimp po’boy and can I have some?

While we waited for the festivities to start, we stopped in at Cafe Beignet for a wake-up. It’s no Cafe du Monde, but the coffee was good and the beignet were doughier, made with more of an egg batter.

Various local restaurants, from Acme to Galatoures participated, each building a portion of the block-long sandwich. Folks crowded around, and people with particular preferences made a point to reserve a spot near their favorite eatery.

I believe my first slice of sandwich was from House of Blues, and the second was from Zia’s or Acme, which also loaded their po boy with shrimp. I was impressed that it was a free-for-all, and they were not selling the sandwich. I was even more impressed that there was no pushing and shoving; no wild feeding frenzy. The crowd was polite and patient. In fact, they were friendly and as happy as could be.

The group second-lined down to the Festival, one block over on Royal for the Roadfood Fest. Coincidentally, the brass band was the Storyville Stompers, the same band from our wedding. So altogether, this is the third time we have second-lined with them. But the fun was just getting started!