doesn't live up to the hype. how old is domilise's? for me, it has existed since the beginning of time. whenever friends or family would go to the zoo, we'd afterward stop at domilise's for po-boys. i wonder if it was here that i had my first po-boy. can you remember your first po-boy?
riding around uptown, domilise's feels a bit out of place now-a-days. it wasn't that long ago that most of uptown along the river was working class. in the last ten years or so, however, it has really gentrified. there are a few pockets of holdovers from the past, but those pockets are being sucked up by bobos and yuppies, ready to buy renovated shotguns for the same price as mcmansions out in the suburbs.
domilise's belongs to one of those vanishing pockets. tucked away a block off tchoupitoulas and jefferson, at the corner of annunciation and bellecastle, domilise's is easy to miss if you're looking for a restaurant that carries as large a reputation as it does. besides a hand-painted board on the side of a windowless building in need of fresh paint, there's nothing to tell you you've found the oldest continuously open po-boy shop in the world. i'm not sure if that title is accurate, so if you can name one older, i'm all ears.
when you walk in, and this is no easy thing to do because many days the shop is inexplicably closed, you get a whiff of food history. that is, if you're able to get in before the line forms. on my last visit, i got there just as they opened and my order was ready minutes later. a quick look around makes you wonder if you're in a grandmother's home because there are familial pictures all around. the pictures are often of celebrity patrons, like the mannings. across the cramped area is the bar with the tender who looks as old as the restaurant. at the entrance, though, is where the food magic happens. shout your order if you want and grab a seat.
on this most recent trip, i decided on a large roast beef. i'm doing a taste and compare of all the roast beef po-boys i can find. leidenheimer is their baker, and their roast beef is cooked in-house. to be honest, it wasn't asgoodas i remember it being. the beef is sliced in large deli-like slices and then gravy is poured on top. this technique, i think is inferior to the one where the roast beef falls apart in the gravy and the soup feast is spooned into the bread. domilise's is a bit of an oddity in their rb po-boy prep. there are no tomatoes and they also use creole mustard as a condiment. the first novelty is disappointing to me. the second is great. even if the roast beef isn't my favorite, the mustard gives it an added kick. i wonder how it would taste on parkway roast beef.
at $11 (tax included), the roast beef is one of the most expensive and under-stuffed in the city -- perhaps showing that despite its looks, the restaurant realizes it's no longer a working class clientele it serves, but instead, one that wishes to get a working class experience. in that way, i think the domilise's of the past is a relic, and what is there, despite the continuity in ownership and service, has lost its former glory. but i don't think you can really understand what a traditional po-boy stop is without going to domilise's.