PO-BOYS

Few foods are as richly treasured in New Orleans as the po-boy, and the variations are seemingly endless. The po-boy gets the royal treatment at Metairie's Café Royale, where the namesake Royale po-boy combines roast beef, ham and turkey. Southern Po-boys in Jefferson also cures indecision with its combination of shrimp and oysters on its half-and-half seafood po-boy. Another classic combination enters the fray at the Come Back Inn II in Kenner, which makes the Joe-Don po-boy with home-cooked roast beef in thick gravy set over grilled Chisesi ham and melted Swiss. The Johnny's special at the French Quarter landmark Johnny's Po-boy Restaurant also combines hot roast beef, gravy, grilled ham and melted Swiss and American cheese. Classic po-boys are offered at Crabby Jack's, but so are offbeat specialties like paneed rabbit and roasted duck po-boys. The Cellars of River Ridge offers some similarly creative takes on the classics with its shrimp remoulade po-boy with a white remoulade sauce cradling spicy Gulf shrimp. An Italian vegetarian option comes from Magazine Po-boy Shop's eggplant Parmigiana po-boy served hot with red sauce and Swiss cheese. New Orleans-style barbecue shrimp with plenty of butter and pepper are served po-boy style at Sortez Café.

A po-boy by a different name shows up at the local franchises of the popular Subway Sandwich Shops on their meatball marinara sandwich with Italian meatballs and a tangy red sauce. Get an early start on the day with an eggs benedict po-boy served for breakfast at Stanley, complete with poached eggs, smoked Canadian bacon and Creole hollandaise on toasted French bread. Gattuso's in Gretna touts its Dirty Bird po-boy as "sloppy" with its copious piles of roast beef, smoked turkey and melted cheese. The Chamber is a similarly loaded specialty po-boy at Koz's in Harahan with not only roast beef, ham and turkey but also American and Swiss cheeses, Italian dressing and hot mustard. To conserve napkins, the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood Company in Metairie offers its One-Handed po-boys in which the French bread is not sliced but rather stuffed with barbecue shrimp, oysters or crawfish. Hickory-smoked barbecue beef is a specialty at the Country Flame, which uses it in po-boys dressed to order. A mainstay of the plate lunch, a hamburger steak with grilled onions and gravy becomes a po-boy at Parasol's Restaurant and Bar. Danny & Clyde's goes strictly traditional with its French fry and gravy po-boy, a feast of carbs that has been sustaining hungry locals for generations. Another old-time recipe receives careful preparation at the Savvy Gourmet in its beef debris po-boy with plenty of tender meat, gravy and cheddar. The recently resurrected Parkway Bakery by Bayou St. John has long been famous for its roast beef po-boys, which are still made with beef slow cooked for eight hours. Also popular is the fried shrimp version. And Mike Serio's Po-Boys pulls no punches with its roast beef po-boy, served the classic way and dressed to order on loaves with crispy crust.

Ham, luncheon meat, bologna and salami are the four meats behind the Four Meat Special po-boy from Short Stop Po-Boys. The pulled pork sandwich from 13 puts plenty of spice on the meat to bring out its full flavor (the same goes for the side of cole slaw). Beef brisket po-boys are available at Deckbar & Grille in Jefferson. Meatloaf graces French bread in a po-boy at Streetcar Bistro downtown. Out at Frank's Marina Grill, oysters, bacon and Swiss cheese come together on French bread.