Mardi Gras is right around the corner making me long for the the scents and tastes of New Orleans. It is truly one of my favorite cities on earth with its unmatched charm, romantic beauty and wildly friendly people (many of my family members included). Last year, I took an overnight train ride down to the Crescent City in search of Po’ Boys, beignets and a stiff drink or two. Riding the rails is a magical way to see the country and the historic run from Chicago to New Orleans allows to you slip back in time as you roll past whistle-stop towns, fields, swamps and snaking rivers. 

I booked a room at the historic Royal Barracks Guest House, a 150 year old Double Shotgun style cottage right in the heart of the French Quarter. Once I dropped my bags, I was off in search of some lunch! Obviously New Orleans is a food lover’s paradise. With such a wide variety of cultural influences, it is truly a melting pot of incomparable deliciousness!

One of my favorite New Orleans specialties is the Po’ Boy. Attributed to brothers Benny and Clovis Martin, who opened Martin Brothers‘ Coffee Stand and Restaurant in the 1920’s, the Po’ Boy was developed when streetcar conductors went on strike. Having been former streetcar conductors, themselves, the Martin Brothers vowed to feed all the striking streetcar workers with giant sandwiches served on a special french bread. Their bread was created to be a 40” long baguette with squared off ends so that no bread was lost. As the strikers came up to the shop to get their free sandwiches the Martins would say “Here comes another poor boy,” and a legendary sandwich got its legendary beginning. In reality, people in New Orleans had been eating hot roast beef, oysters and shrimp on french bread for ages, but the Martin’s new large-scale sandwiches served in standard loaf and half-loaf sizes were a sensation. With the onset of the Great Depression, the Po’Boy became essential to many New Orleanians in feeding their families.

Po’ Boys come in wide variety including seafoods like fried oysters, shrimp, catfish, soft-shelled crab and crawfish and meats like hot roast beef, ham and turkey. But whatever your meat of choice may be, you have to get it “dressed’ with all the toppings: lettuce, tomato, hot sauce, pickles and mayo. My personal favorite is the Peace Maker from Acme Oyster House. It is a foot-long combination of fried oysters AND fried shrimp, because choosing between them is like choosing between children--no one should have to do it! 

My other favorite New Orleans food is the beignet. You just have to eat them all the time when you’re in this city. Breakfast at 8 am, afternoon snack at 3 pm, again when you’re starving at 3 am. There’s no avoiding them and there’s not point in trying to hide the tell-tale sprinkles of powdered sugar that will show up in the most unusual places after you’ve eaten them. Some of my favorite beignets are actually at New Orleans Famous Beignets and Coffee, a little cafe right down the street from Cafe Du Monde. Beignets and Coffee has savory beignets stuffed to bursting with seafood stuffing and crawfish sauce and they are just to die for, however… sometime between midnight and 3 am, the siren call of the world famous beignet behemoth, Cafe Du Monde inevitably pulls me back for one last beignet piled high with powdered sugar. 

Can’t make it to New Orleans? The Chopping Block is bringing New Orleans to you at our Mardi Gras Madness event featuring Crab Cakes, Muffulettas, Oysters Rockefeller, Mock Turtle Soup, Spinach Salad with Pickled Red Onions and Creole Dressing, Fried Oyster Po Boys with Remoulade, Shrimp and Grits, Crawfish Étouffée, Dirty Rice, Chicken and Andouille Gumbo, Jambalaya and an authentic Seafood Boil, Bananas Foster, Bread Pudding with Whiskey Sauce, Pralines and King Cake along with classic New Orlean cocktails and a live jazz band. “Laissez les bons temps rouler!” ("Let the good times roll!") this Friday, February 24th at our Merchandise Mart location!