Of all the New Orleans debates that come up across our counters, two never go away: what makes a real king cake, and what makes a real po-boy. Neither one has a right answer. That has never stopped anybody.
Other cities argue about sports. We do too, but at least a football game ends. These two arguments have been running for generations, and they break out between total strangers more often than you'd think. So we're laying out both sides and then, like cowards, refusing to pick.
Argument One: The King Cake
Plain or filled?
Start with the history, because traditionalists will. 64 Parishes describes the classic New Orleans king cake as a round, braided cinnamon pastry, decorated in purple, green and gold by the 1930s. No filling. Some icing, some sugar, done. The traditionalist position is that anything else is a dessert pretending to be a king cake.
The other side points out that the cake has been changing since the beginning. The same 64 Parishes entry notes that the prize inside used to be a bean or a coin before plastic babies took over in the 1960s, and that department and grocery stores started selling cheaper versions in the 1930s. If the cake could survive all that, it can survive cream cheese. Or praline.
The people in the middle just want a slice and don't care who made it. They are the happiest people in the argument.
When are you allowed to eat it?
This one gets heated. King cake season begins on Twelfth Night, January 6, and runs through Fat Tuesday. Eating it in December is, to a certain kind of New Orleanian, a moral failure. Eating it on Ash Wednesday is worse.
The opposing camp says a cake is a cake and the calendar is a suggestion. They have a point, and they will make it at Thanksgiving. We'll just note that our Let Them Eat King Cake tea towel works year-round, so you can be on the right side of history without eating anything.
As for who makes the best one, we're not touching that. Every family in this city has a bakery they swear by, and the bakery they swear by is always the one near the house they grew up in. Some of us are still loyal to Larry Ragusa, which tells you how seriously we take this question. And yes, the baby means you're buying the next cake.
Argument Two: The Po-Boy
Is it a po-boy or a poor boy?
Both, depending on how far back you go. The sandwich was born during the 1929 streetcar strike, according to 64 Parishes, when Benny and Clovis Martin, former streetcar conductors, fed striking workers for free at their French Market restaurant. "Poor boy" is what they were called, and that's how the name appeared in newspapers and on menus in the early 1930s. The shortened "po-boy" didn't really take over until the 1970s.
So the "poor boy" people have history on their side. The "po-boy" people have the menus. We wrote more about the Martin brothers if you want ammunition, and the Po'Boy Patent Print is our tribute to the sandwich as a piece of engineering.
Dressed or not?
Dressed means lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo. The pro-dressed side argues that a fried shrimp po-boy without it is just shrimp on bread. The anti-dressed side, a small but proud minority, wants nothing between them and the gravy.
The real fight happens on roast beef. A good roast beef po-boy should fall apart in your hands, and whether the lettuce helps or just gets soggy is a question that has ended friendships. Some people split the difference and order it "dressed, no tomato," a diplomatic compromise that satisfies nobody.
Shrimp or roast beef?
If you're new, this is where you should start, because it's the one argument everybody joins. Shrimp people talk about the crunch. Roast beef people talk about the gravy and the debris. Oyster people quietly order oysters and stay out of it, and the hot sausage people wonder why nobody ever asks them.
For the bread, the 64 Parishes entry credits the Martins' baker, John Gendusa, with creating the long loaf the sandwich needed. That's the one thing almost everyone agrees on: the bread has to be right. Crackly outside, airy inside. Our po-boy guide has more on how to order.
Why We Keep Arguing
Food is how this city talks to itself. An argument about king cake is really an argument about whose grandmother was right, and nobody's going to lose that one gracefully. We think that's healthy. A city that fights this hard about sandwiches clearly cares about something.
Our position, officially, is printed on a shirt: New Orleans Is My Favorite Restaurant. Every side of every argument is on the menu.
Now pick one. Come to the shop on Magazine Street or Chartres Street and tell us we're wrong.
New Orleans Debates: FAQ
When is king cake season in New Orleans?
King cake season starts on Twelfth Night, January 6, and runs through Mardi Gras day. Many locals consider eating it outside that window a breach of tradition.
Is it called a po-boy or a poor boy?
Both are correct. The sandwich was called a "poor boy" when it was created during the 1929 streetcar strike, and the shortened "po-boy" became more common in the 1970s.
What does "dressed" mean on a po-boy?
A dressed po-boy comes with lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayonnaise. You can also order it plain.
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