parkway bakery & tavern

#1 spot for po-boys. it's true that i haven't eatten at everypo-boyjoint in new orleans but to date parkway is definitely the best. when i'm in the mood for apo-boyi'll generally get the surf n turf but they also have a good ruben sandwich and i'm a fan of the sweet potato fries. i also really enjoyed when they did their daily specials. however the real magic happens around thanksgiving - the thanksgiving po-boy, everything good about thanksgiving between two pieces of french bread. this past year they did it every wednesday leading up to thanksgiving but i'd suggest calling ahead. amazing!

park way... in back! =). wed-mon 11am-10pm, tue closed. for parking, there's a large gravel lot around the restaurant's corner, off toulouse street. surprisingly, when i arrived at noon on a wednesday, the small, order counter (in the right, back corner) only had two people in line. had my order just 5 minutes after placing it. from 12:15 and on, the line stayed around twelve-deep. for $6.90, the regular roast beefpo-boywith gravy (7") on french bread was excellent - tender meat (though not as taste-bud pleasing as radosta's, imho), fresh bread, two nice tomato slices and shredded lettuce. served with buttered bread on the side, the turkey & alligator sausage gumbo for $5.15 was a little bland (pass the salt and pepper, please), the taste of okra being the most pronounced. next time i'll skip the gumbo, and leave room for dessert! from cashier to server, a very friendly staff!

golden fried shrimp. always the freshest, tastiest fried shrimp po-boys. when friends come from out of town and want thepo-boyexperience, this is where i take them.

dining amidst a packed dining room with photos of the space completely submerged post-katrina hung as a reminder of the crescent city’s resilience, parkway bakery & tavern is every bit the community icon as willie mae’s scotch house, and then some, the restaurant open and closed intermittently at 538 hagan avenue ever since 1911, though the classicpo-boywas not created until the railway strike of 1929.

earning both local and international acclaim over the decades, their overstuffed sandwiches on toasted rolls the photographic definition of what people envision when thinking of new orleans’ most famous dish, it was mere minutes after noon that the counter was approached as part of a line that moves quickly, the ordering process simple with a window near soda dispensers around the corner where order after order is called out.

harkening the days when every new orleans neighborhood had its own corner bakery, this one of german ancestry but no longer making its own bread and instead sourcing leidenheimer’s baking company like so many others, current owner jay nix still insists on doing things the right way, wild-caught gulf shrimp and fish breaded in-house daily with roast beef and gravy all made inside parkway’s kitchen from an old family recipe.

priced affordably enough to attract some 1,000 patrons on a good day, the “surf n’ turf” with shrimp and debris a sloppy smile-inducer when fully-dressed in lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and hot sauce, other options include hot links, oysters or seasonal selections made by nix’s nephew justin kennedy, the desserts also made on-site with the banana pudding creamy if not particularly innovative while the steaming hot slab of bread pudding is chock-full-of raisins in a pool of boozy crème anglaise.

this is easiest the bestpo-boysandwich in new orleans, prices ok, coldest beer in town, fine service determined by crowd which is can be lined up down the block, its that popular. once tourists found it, its really popular to the chagrin of locals. big secret, the bakery (not that much of a secret), the bread makes it the best!

we then got up and traveled to an insanely packed parkway bakery & tavern. when we arrived the line was literally out the door and there was a film crew recording a tv program. we basically sampled the entire menu, starting with their french dippo-boy(the best we had anywhere), the roast beef (very messy, better beef them domilise’s), alligator sausage (really unique flavor, well seasoned), fried shrimp (crunchy but a bit bland), surf & turf (roast beef and fried shrimp, insanely messy), fried pickles (the best i’ve had) and bread pudding (also some of the best i’ve ever had). we ended up slowly making our way back to the city and nearly passed out from a food coma.

parkway for poor portions. parkway bakery & taverns portion sizes consistently decreased throughout the ten years that i was their regular customer. the large hamburgerpo-boythat i ordered from parkway bakery & tavern at 583 hagan ave. january 9th was a disappointment in comparison to the the first colossal hamburgerpo-boythey prepared for me about ten years ago. today, i am no longer a customer of parkway bakery because of consistently decreasing portion sizes and the scrawny hamburgerpo-boythat they prepared for me last night.

i do not recommend parkway bakery & tavern to anyone.

poboy heaven. the parkway shrimppo-boyis perfection. surf n turf is nearly as good. great atmosphere, great happy hour, tons of seating, cool building. love love love this place.

went to parkway on tuesday, but they are closed. guess i should have paid attention. but my friend from no told me to go back, that it would be worth it. i tried the roast beefpo-boyand the fried shrimp po-boy. both were excellent. the shrimppo-boywas loaded with shrimp falling out of the bread. no skimping here! i really liked the roast beef, although i prefer mine with a little more gravy. just a personal preference though. this is a solid place for a big fat new orleans style po-boy.

fantastic shrimp po-boy; skip reuben. fantastic shrimppo-boy-- hot, properly dressed. reuben was a disaster, i could not eat it -- no cheese, corned beef tough -- if you know what a reuben should be, you will not like this one

better. somehow they've improved on their already really good surf and turf. i don't know what happened, but the last time i was here was a couple months ago. for the most part i stay on the westbank. i happened to be across the river last week, and i decided to stop by because it had been awhile.

thepo-boyi had last week was absolutely amazing. more overstuffed than i remembered, and the gravy? somehow the gravy is even better. i don't know if they changed anything, or if i just got there at the right time, but it was so much better than i remembered. i probably got looked at like i was crazy because i was sitting there devouring that thing with a huge smile on my face.

the roast beefpo-boywas terrific. huge great tasting sandwich. you won't go wrong trying one.

i eat here at least once a week.. it is easily the bestpo-boyin town, and i've had them all.

first time eating @ parkway bakery & tavern and it will not be my last. caught the saints game and had an amazing shrimp po-boy. the hot roast beefpo-boyis like heaven and the bartenders are super sweet!!! hey! if it's good for president obama it's good enough for me!!!! 5 stars!!

the spirit and culture of the city--its people, its food, its music--are infectious. allow me to relay but one story. on my last day in the city yesterday, i happened to step into marlin william's cab outside of the new orleans convention center. marlin is a large, gregarious, cheerful man with a low booming voice who drives a very clean and well air-conditioned (a rarity!) cab. he was only supposed to drive me back to the hotel, but asked if he could also take me to the airport later that day. while it seemed a tad odd, i eagerly agreed to the plan after he promised a stop at his favoritepo-boyshop, parkway bakery and tavern . while i had originally suggested we swing by domilise's (since i've actually never tried it in the half-dozen times i've been to new orleans), marlin claimed parkway'spo-boywould be superior, and backed up his claim by offering to buy my lunch if i was not satisfied. this money-back-guarantee, coupled w