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Po'boy: Fried seafood

What: Fried shrimp, oysters, catfish, or soft-shell crabs (in season) are stuffed into French bread and dressed (if desired) with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. (See po’boy: BBQ shrimp for more background on the NOLA po’boy.)

Where: The oyster po’boy, pictured, at Parkway Bakery & Tavern (538 Hagan Ave., map) in Mid-City is just as it should be: brimming with plump, crispy, very deep-fried oysters; fried shrimp gets the same yummy treatment. As with the roast beef here, “dressed” means lettuce, tomato, mayo, and pickles.

Update: As of fall 2013, Parkway was not serving many oysters due to high prices, offering a fried-oyster po’boy on Mondays only.

When: Wed-Mon, 11am-10pm (closed Tues)

Order: The golden-fried oyster or shrimp po’boy, dressed ($7.85 regular; $11 large). Can’t decide which sandwich to get? Try a half-and-half combo, like fried oysters plus fried shrimp (if available), or get the surf-and-turf, which combines the fried shrimp po’boy with the excellent roast beef and gravy po’boy.

Alternatively: R&O’s (504-831-1248; 216 Metairie Hammond Hwy, map) in Metairie (you’ll need a car) and Domilise’s (504-899-9126; 5240 Annunciation St., map) Uptown are highly recommended, as well as the newer Mahony’s Po’boy Shop (3454 Magazine St., map) near the Garden District, which offers both classic and nontraditional po’boy fillers (for instance: chicken livers and Creole slaw; fried oysters, bacon, and cheddar).