Every serious conversation about New Orleans sandwiches leads to the po’boy, which is the correct starting point and the wrong ending point. The po’boy is the bread argument — a piece about what happens when a specific loaf engineered for a specific filling becomes inseparable from the tradition it created. The muffuletta is a different…
Most people who eat a beignet in New Orleans eat it at Cafe Du Monde, which is the correct starting point. The problem is that most people stop there. Cafe Du Monde is the reference point for the tradition — the open-air counter, the powdered sugar avalanche, the chicory cafe au lait — and understanding…
New Orleans has a stronger claim to American cocktail culture than any other city, and the claim rests on more than nostalgia. The Sazerac is the oldest known cocktail in the United States. The Ramos Gin Fizz is the most technically demanding drink in the American bar canon. The Vieux Carré is a master class…
Austin breakfast tacos are not a trend and they are not brunch. They are a working-class morning tradition rooted in the Mexican-American communities of South Texas, evolved through Austin’s specific taqueria culture over decades, and now subject to a level of national attention that has complicated the original simplicity without improving it. The correct breakfast…
A po’boy is defined by its bread, not its filling — and that bread cannot be reliably produced outside New Orleans. New Orleans French bread has a crust that fractures on the first bite and a white interior that compresses to almost nothing, creating a structural relationship with fried seafood or roast beef that no…