Mahony's Po Boy Shop

Living in this wonderful city has given me a new appreciation for sandwiches. Growing up in suburbia, with a mother who has just recently acquired cooking skills, sandwiches made up a good portion of the food I consumed for 18 years. My typical school lunch consisted of Wonder Bread, Peanut Butter, and maybe a little Jelly or Cream Cheese. Road trips brought out the big guns: deli, rye, and mustard, and we often had Subway or Port of Subs for dinner. Clearly none of these options seemed the least bit tantalizing, even to my still developing taste buds. So when I moved down south 4 years ago I was stunned by everyone's obsession with these over-sized subway sandwiches. Little did I know how infatuated I would soon become with none other than New Orleans po boys. For the next week I plan on writing exclusively about po boys. This elusive sandwich has brought me so much joy, so now it is time to pay my respects, and solve the age old mystery... where to get the BEST po boy in the city.

When asking this challenging question many locals and tourists would immediately respond with Mahony's Po Boy Shop. This Garden District restaurant has been featured on Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives, as well as this very website. It is well known for it's unique po boys such as the Root Beer glazed Chisesi's Ham and Cheese (seen above) and their award winning Fried Chicken Liver and Cole Slaw po boy (seen below).

Eric is a die-hard fan of this liver po boy (as well as Caleb and a whole load of soon to be old men that I have the honor of being friends with). However, as I am not a wannabe old man, liver is not at the top of my must eat list. As such, the allure of this particular sandwich is lost on me. The Root Beer Ham did fascinate me, but it was not as sweet or sasafrassy as I had hoped.

However, Mahony's creative sandwiches did give me a great idea on how to spice up my ham and cheese. As a joke, Mahony's offers a Zapp's Po Boy, which is simply a bag of Zapp's potato chips stuffed inside a loaf of french bread (seriously). That of course sounds like the driest sandwich ever, and not something I'd like to pay 6 bucks for, but I did take their idea and stuff some voodoo gumbo Zapp's into my Root Beer po boy (as well as some of their super-thin onion rings).

As a whole, I've never had something I didn't like at Mahony's, but I have definitely been disappointed by their steep prices. All of their po boy's are good, but not good enough to be twice or three times as much as the corner store down the street (which I will get into later this week).

I never like to give a bad review to a local joint, so please don't take this as a thumbs down. It really is a wonderful place to get a unique tasty po boy, it just isn't the cheapest joint in town. And with my current job situation moonlighting as a waitress twice a week, it's hard for me to dish out a lot of dough when I could be putting it in my piggy bank. If you have some extra cash and your looking for a low-key, good meal Mahony's is a great choice. Stay tuned for more on the Po Boy competition, and feel free to give me feedback on your own favorite spots for a mean Po Boy!