Streetcar Sandwiches 1434 S. Carrollton Avenue Carrollton and Willow Streets -- Uptown I have a love/hate relationship with Streetcar. They make some of the best po-boys in New Orleans. It's the kind of place that's on everyone's "top 5" list. The "hate" part comes in because the crowd that frequents the place is often filled with yuppies and out-of-town college student types. If it weren't for the streetcars rumbling by on Carrollton right outside the door, I'd swear that I'd been teleported to some college town where an expatriated New Orleanian decided to open up a po-boy place. The clientele notwithstanding, I regularly try to get up to Streetcar. They're one of the few places left that roasts their own meats, which raises the quality of their sandwiches up a notch from even the best of the neighborhood and CBD lunch counters. Streetcar does excellent versions of the classic New Orleans po-boys--roast beef, ham, etc. Their beef gravy is flavorful, with a touch of garlic. Remember, the gravy is actually more important than the meat. This is why many places can get away with buying whole roasts (like the ones from Manda that the local deli will slice for you for the house) and making a fresh gravy in the kitchen. The beef is good-quality, and is swimming in your gravy, so the po-boy works out fine. Streetcar raises this a notch because their gravy includes the fresh pan drippings from the roast. Streetcar uses Leidenheimer's french bread, and they warm the bread in a small oven before assembling the sandwich. It's hard to see the prep area from the counter (really cramped quarters back there), but the end product contains lots of fresh tomato, lettuce and pickles. Streetcar does a number of specialty sandwiches that have really put them on the map. The Streetcar Special is a roast beef and ham po-boy, with your choice of cheese, covered in beef gravy. It's like a Ferdi (the classic Mother's po-boy) with cheese. The roast beef is better than Mothers' but the ham isn't as good, so it's a wash as to which sandwich is better. Then there's the B-B-Q Streetcar Special, which is the same thing but using b-b-q beef instead of traditional roast beef. They also do a number of variations on the classic meatball po-boy with red gravy (that's tomato sauce to you non-New Orleanians), mixing meatballs with italian or hot sausage, and covering them with red gravy. There are better red gravies in town (R&O's out in Metairie or Liuzza's in Mid-City), so I normally don't get the Italian-style sandwiches at Streetcar. Probably the most talked-about specialty sandwich at Streetcar is the smothered duck po-boy. They start with roast duck that's been smothered in its own gravy for hours. This is then made up like a regular roast beef sandwich. I didn't quite know what to expect from this sandwich, and it was a wierd taste at first. The meat already has a smoky, mesquite quality to it, and the gravy is very flavorful. Roast beef po- boys can be very subtle; the smothered duck sandwich is anything but. If you ever get to the point where you feel a bit jaded when it comes to po-boys, get the smothered duck. It's definitely a different taste. Seafood is a winner at Streetcar. Both the shrimp and oysters are breaded and fried to order. You have to wait a bit more when it's cooked to order, but so what? The breading is good corn meal, and the seafood is timed just right so that it's not greasy. The oysters are light and hot, and the shrimp are tasty. Streetcar makes an absolutely awesome specialty seafood sandwich called the Peacemaker. This is a combination fried shrimp-and-oyster po-boy that's covered with cheese and bacon, then dressed. The name derives from the times when men would go out to Storyville to visit their lady friends, then stop on the way home and pick up this magnificent sandwich as a peace offering for being out carousing. Whether the story is accurate or not doesn't really matter--this is a sandwich that will have your cholesterol levels reeling for days as you savor the memory. Streetcar Sandwiches' decor is definitely a cut above the typical style of a New Orleans po-boy place, which I call "Early Irish Channel," in honor of Parasol's. The inside is wood-paneled, with a varnished wood counter that more-or-less runs around the perimeter of the dining area. There are diner-style stools mounted at the counter, and then two rectangular tables in the middle of the dining area, raised to the same height as the counter. There are six stools at each table, so the place seats about 20 people. Then there are three outside tables that seat 4- 6 each. It's truly enjoyable to sit outside on S. Carrollton and watch the streetcars roll by. The streetcar barn is one block back from the restaurant (in-between Willow and Oak), so you'll occasionally see a streetcar turn from Carrollton onto Willow right in front of you when eating outside. Of all of the neighborhoods on the St. Charles line, I like Carrollton the best. This is a great place to sit and watch the world go by in the spring and fall. If you're coming to New Orleans for Carnival, this is a great place to catch the Krewe of Carrollton, which rolls on the Sunday of the first weekend of parades in the city (9 days before Mardi Gras). Get a couple of po-boys to go, then sit out on the neutral ground to enjoy them. We used to always go to Canal and Telemachus Streets in Mid City to catch Carrollton, before they changed the route back to the uptown run last year. We migrated with the parade up to Carrollton and Willow, and a new tradition (Carrollton and Streetcar sandwiches) has been born! Service at Streetcar is standard lunch counter. You order and pay for your sandwich, get a number, and wait until that number is called. Prep time here is longer than many other po-boy places, because they warm the bread (which takes an extra couple of minutes), and make many of the items to order. If you're on a tight lunch hour, Streetcar at noon may not be the quickest place for you to eat. They do take phone orders, however, so if you call ahead you can lessen your wait time. This pays off big-time if you're ordering seafood po-boys. Another of the more "yuppie" features of Streetcar is the "hot sauce bar," which is a section of the counter that has over 20 different kinds of hot sauces, including several habeneros and green Tabasco. I always opt for good old Crystal or Louisiana Hot Sauce. Streetcar is the perfect lunch spot for anyone doing a Streetcar tour. If you purchase the all-day pass, you can get off and on at will, so just hop off at Willow and you can continue down the line later. There's not much left to the St. Charles line after Willow--the run down to Claiborne is nice, but if you're just paying the single-trip fare, you won't be missing all that much if you end your trip from downtown at Willow. The trip from Carondelet and Canal downtown takes about an hour-and-a-half (maybe more if there's traffic or other complications), so if you set out around 10:00, you'll be uptown just before the noon lunchtime madness. Just board the streetcar heading back towards the river and you can ride back down Carrollton and points downtown. I try not to get into comparisons of po-boy places like Streetcar and Mother's. Both are good, and both are in totally different neighborhoods. I have the luxury of having a job where I'm in different neighborhoods regularly, so it's no big effort to hit both. If your time in the city is limited and heading uptown is part of your agenda, don't miss Streetcar.
New Orleans, LA