The votes have been coming in, and our NOLA.com po-boy bracket is down to two contenders: Parkway Bakery & Tavern and Melba’s.
They’re the finalists as determined by you, the po-boy-loving public, as tallied after hundreds of thousands of votes through successive rounds of our bracket.
We visited each of these spots Wednesday afternoon (yes, it’s hungry work).
Below, there’s a little background on each, and how our scouting trips went. Voting in the poll closes Friday at 2 p.m.
Melba's (1525 Elysian Fields Ave.): When it opened in 2012, Melba’s was the next act for Jane and Scott Wolfe, who many still know from their pre-Katrina brands the Chicken Box and the “unbeatable” Wagner’s Meat.
They’ve built Melba's as a 24-hour complex that includes a po-boy shop with daiquiris, plate lunches, laundry and a pioneering community literacy program that sees star authors visiting and customers leaving with free books.
Last year, they added a second location at 3205 Tulane Ave., near the hospital complexes, also with 24-hour service.
Parkway Bakery & Tavern, 538 Hagan Ave.: Parkway has long roots to draw from, with a history going back to the bakery that first opened here by Bayou St. John in 1911. It evolved into a po-boy shop but its story appeared over when that rendition closed in 1995.
The next chapter began when local builder Jay Nix bought the property and brought it back to life, opening the new Parkway here in 2003.
Its evolution has continued in step with its popularity. A one-time parking lot is now a tented patio that feels like a po-boy beer garden, and a second dining room and bar in back gives full service.
Melba's Poboys
Ian McNulty's take:
We went to the original Melba’s, which sits at a crossroads of neighborhoods. Visiting here feels like jumping into a collage of New Orleans life, with so much local character baked in and always coming in through the doors.
I had the shrimp po-boy, fully dressed ($13.99), which carries a good amount of shrimp of medium size. The fried coating is soft, and lightly applied, so the shrimp sink into and meld with the bread as you compress the loaf.
The 24-hour aspect of Melba’s is key. Your ability to get food like this at any hour of day (or, more to the point, night) is a distressing rarity these days. Melba’s fills a role here that can’t be underestimated.
Chelsea Shannon's take:
This was my first time actually stopping into Melba's. I've ordered a late-night po-boy on UberEats once or twice but always drive by the blue building. I knew they had a strong literacy program but I was happily overwhelmed by the books hanging in the front entrance.
I got the roast beef po-boy fully dressed ($13.99) and I love a good ugly-delicious sandwich. The meat was so juicy that I knew I had to dig into this fast because this sandwich was about to burst. If I didn't have to go back to work, this po-boy would have gone great with book and a daiquiri.
Parkway Bakery and Tavern
Ian McNulty's take:
Here’s a restaurant that answers the po-boy dreams of visitors and also feels like a second home for its local regulars, too. Incredibly, it has the capacity to field both consistently well.
The shrimp po-boy is my go-to at Parkway, and I ordered it once again (large, $14.99). I love the rigid, crunchy jackets with a salty, slightly toasty flavor over the sweet shrimp, and the way the over-stuffed-ness gives you essentially a side order (or is it an appetizer?) of fried shrimp spilling out on their own.
Chelsea Shannon's take:
Visiting Parkway always takes me back to the first week when I moved here. I love seeing all the people eating or waiting in line to order, whether there taking a break from work, to grab something quick, or sharing a meal as their last stop before hitting the airport and heading out of New Orleans.
Today, I was in the right mood for a fully dressed roast beef po-boy (large, $14.99). It was so neat and tidy after unwrapping it that I almost didn't want to bite in because I knew as soon as I did it would unravel, like any good roast beef po-boy would.
Final round of NOLA.com's Po-boy Bracket
While we may have our thoughts on why both shops are worthy of being on the bracket, it is up to the readers to decide which is the best. The final round closes Friday; click below to vote in the bracket.
Eating a po-boy is a quintessential New Orleans experience.
