A Hero Ain't Nuthin' But a Sandwich

Lawks a mussy, I know I try to find a silver lining in every cloud, but this is downright ridiculoid. Here's the full story(Reuters):

Po' boys and gumbo help revive New Orleans

By Kevin Krolicki
Sun Nov 20, 3:12 PM ET



NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - In New Orleans, a city still lacking power, water and most of its former inhabitants, many are tracking a more hopeful gauge of recovery measured in sales of po' boy sandwiches and gumbo.

About 320 restaurants have reopened for business in New Orleans, down from the 2,200 or so establishments of all stripes that gave New Orleans its reputation as a city serious about eating before Hurricane Katrina.

The most famous restaurants -- haute-creole destinations like Commander's Palace, Brennan's and Arnaud's -- remain shuttered as they work to rehire large staffs.

But smaller family-run shops featuring indigenous comfort food like po' boy and muffuletta sandwiches, gumbo, and red beans and rice have come back to standing-room only traffic.

"People were so happy to get gumbo. I talked to people who said thank you, because we just had to be back to some normality," said Vicky Patania, who has been washing dishes and operating with a skeleton crew at The Galley, a restaurant she owns with her husband, Dennis.

Sandy Whann, the owner of Leidenheimer Baking Company, which supplies crisp-crusted loaves for po' boys, said New Orleans restaurant owners like Patania "have a duty."

"They understand that the gift that they can give to this city is to reopen as a gathering place," he said.

The return of New Orleans' tourist economy also hinges on the success of its restaurants. Said Howard Moses, a local engineer who was at a po' boy shop for lunch recently, "Food is as important to this city as music and architecture."

The po' boy and the muffuletta, another New Orleans creation, are among the fare to dominate post-Katrina menus for those in a hurry.

The muffuletta, an Italian-style sandwich introduced by Sicilian immigrants, features sesame-coated bread stuffed with ham, salami, cheeses and marinated olive salad.

"Good ingredients and big portions, baby," said Norma Webb, who was back making sandwiches to go at Nor-Joe's Import.

The po' boy, called a submarine or a hoagie elsewhere, dates back to Great Depression, giving it a historical tie to earlier hard times.

"What's important about the po' boy is that it's the great equalizer -- rich or poor, regardless of culture, it's the essence of New Orleans," said Whann, who admits he and other locals can grow "mystical" when discussing the perfect po' boy.

"Soft hoagie or submarine rolls are wrong, and hard-crusted baguettes are too tough," said local food expert Celeste Uzee. "Po' boys require the right bread in the same way that a proper New York slice (of pizza) requires the right crust."

For the 100,000 or so now back in New Orleans, food and football remain dominant topics of conversation -- reminders of life before the storm.

"They are crazy about football in the fall, but they are crazy about food all year round," said Tom Fitzmorris, a New Orleans restaurant maven who hosts a three-hour food show five days a week on local radio.

Fitzmorris, who is tracking restaurant reopenings at www.nomenu.com, said food would ultimately bring New Orleans back. "If you go somewhere else, you might make a lot more money, but you won't have gumbo," he said.

Others see the region's strong bond to its favored foods strengthening as thousands of evacuees remain scattered.

"New Orleanians and people from all over Louisiana base their identities, in large part, on foodways," said Uzee.

"Rather than seeing those foodways diluted or eroded, I think instead the traditional things will experience a renaissance," she said. "When people have nothing left, they can always re-create their lost places through food."

Not exactly what I would call getting lemons and making lemonade. I think substituting "Po' boys" with "prostitutes," and "gumbo" with "gambling" would have been more effective. But maybe that's just me.