Rouses Magazine

By some accounts, the history of the po-boy is straightforward. Benny and Clovis Martin, who had moved to New Orleans from their hometown of Raceland, came up with the famous sandwich to support striking streetcar workers in the Crescent City in 1929. Legend has it that, when one of the men would come into their restaurant, a cry would ring out: “Here comes another poor boy.”

The oyster loaf’s first known mention in New Orleans came in an 1851 newspaper ad that described hollowing out an entire loaf of bread, to fit in more oysters that would go into a loaf that had simply been cut in half lengthwise. But the interpretation of the modern oyster loaf depends on where you go. Many places simply call their oyster po-boy an oyster loaf. Others use sliced bread for a sandwich that they also call an oyster loaf.

In Louisiana, two of the most popular types of bread are Evangeline Maid and Bunny Bread. The uninitiated think the two are the same, but an enthusiast will tell you in polite, but in no uncertain terms, that it is time for you to leave. I will discuss the reason below.

“Almost all the sandwiches on the menu are named after our family and our friends,” explains Mary Ann Florey, daughter of Regina’s founder, Regina Florey. “Some are nicknames — like the Jethro is my dad’s sandwich because Jethro was his nickname in college and the Nellie is my uncle’s because their last name is Nelson ...

In New Orleans — and all along the Gulf Coast — finger sandwiches are served with a regularity that would raise eyebrows anywhere else in the United States.