First Visit–Roast Beef Poboy and Fries
I usually wait a month or two before I check out a new place, but these guys have Eliza down the street on Jefferson as well and I trusted them to have it together even though they opened Friday and I’m heading in on Monday. I saw one of the workers put coffee in the tea machine to start the day, but other than that one incident, they certainly looked like they knew what they were doing and the roast beef was all that which is what my main concern was. I might just hit the place for lunch every day this week, and that won’t be nearly enough time to try everything I see that I want on their menu. The roast beef was tender, very intense flavor, and just wet with gravy rather than soaking in it. That allowed them to maintain the integrity of the Leidenheimer bread. I ordered the small, and it was a normal size poboy so be forewarned the large is probably gigantic. The crinkle fries were good. I ordered them because I didn’t want to be distracted by the side order. I’m pretty sure I’m going to do the shrimp poboy with a cup of seafood gumbo at some point this week, and maybe I will try the alligator sausage poboy with the coleslaw. I am hoping it’s the same slaw they serve at Eliza which is very umami as opposed to the sweet or vinegary or mustard tangent so many places take their slaw to. The barkeep was friendly. We started talking about sweet vs unsweet tea and headed into saving sugar points by drinking unsweet so we could spend them all on Barq’s or Abita root beers or better yet Mexican coke and found ourselves all the way over at Blue Corn Tequila and Tacos in Ichiban Square which neither of us have tried yet before she had to break off and help another customer.
So the owners share a Commander’s Palace background, not kitchen but catering and special events is what I’ve heard, and you can definitely feel the New Orleans vibe at Eliza and I’ve already picked up a good bit of it here at Jed’s Local. The Leidenheimer bread is a dead giveaway. Starting the week day specials with red beans and rice on Monday and ending with crawfish etoufee on Friday is another indicator as is the shrimp and fried green tomato poboy with remoulade and the surf and turf combining roast beef and fried oysters. Can’t wait for tomorrow and the next visit.