Parkway Bakery & Tavern

Parkway Bakery & Tavern is a po'boy shop, and it plays that role without apology: counter service, an expansive patio, a bar where construction workers and politicians end up shoulder to shoulder on any given afternoon. That mix of people is the tell. This isn't a destination built for out-of-towners alone — it's a neighborhood fixture that happens to be worth the drive.

The roast beef comes dripping in gravy, the way it should, bread gone soft at the edges from soaking it up. The deep-fried shrimp and oysters hold their crunch against the same treatment. These are not reinvented po'boys. They're correct ones, made at a level that's hard to find even in a city full of people making the same sandwich.

Skip the counter line if the bar inside has room — sitting there is half the experience, listening to whatever's being argued about at the next stool. A Bib Gourmand and a spot on a national list confirm what the sandwich already tells you: nothing fancy is happening here, and nothing needs to. It's a po'boy shop doing the one thing it does as well as it can be done.