Avery’s Po-Boys* (#266, 6/24/13) – 76
I had heard some rumors about an outstanding po-boy shop on Tulane Avenue, but I had no idea where it was. Well, it turns out Avery’s Po-Boys are not far from my office at all. It’s very close to all of the new hospital construction; and more importantly, it’s really good! It moved quickly into my second-ranked shrimp po-boy in town.
Now to get into some basic details. I simply went for a shrimp po-boy – I went large (12-inch), which was about $12, so reasonable. It was very good; it was more lightly breaded than most shrimp po-boys and had some excellent seasoning. I didn’t even remember to add hot sauce while eating because it tasted great without. As I took the order to go, that’s all I had as far as food. But I want to try the onion rings, which I heard were good. And very curious about this “horseradish cream” that comes with them. Another future stop may have to include the red beans & rice on a Monday – I saw some and they looked very good. On the food scale, I will give it a 43 out of 50.
The atmosphere…hmm, well, that probably has to include the neighborhood, which is very shady. Not a lot of parking and if you have to go down a side street, you can’t be sure your car will be there when you come out. However, once inside, it’s a nice, clean, basic po-boy joint. You order and pay at the counter and they call you or bring the food out to you. Good and basic. For atmosphere, will say a 20 out of 30.
The service is basic also, but good. No complaints at all. The woman waiting on us, possibly the owner, was very nice and the food came out quickly. Another thing I’m curious about is how quickly you get your food right at noon. We were there before 11:30 so there was no wait, but thinking they could get very busy right at 12. Regardless, based on one visit, I’m giving it a 13 out of 20 on service.
Final score = 76.