Don't travel to New Orleans for rich po' boys
SNELLVILLE
A great po' boy in Snellville? Absolutely. It's fresh and perfectly seasoned, which explains why you won't find salt and pepper on the tables at Benny's. The menu aims for simplicity and emphasizes basic, generous seasoning during the cooking process. Peeled and de-veined shrimp are dipped in egg wash, dredged in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and tucked into a Leidenheimer's French roll smeared with Tabasco mayo and topped with shredded iceberg lettuce and chopped red onions and tomato. Served with tater tots. Oyster po'boys are also on the menu.
• $9. 3902 U.S. 78, Snellville, 678-209-0209, www.bennysbarandgrill.com.
DECATUR
Owner Bill Sharkey has helmed restaurants since 1962, and hasn't changed his basic po' boy recipes since. Nine are offered, but Sharkey says the oyster is a customer favorite. All fried seafood sandwiches are hand-battered to order. The oysters are dredged in corn flour ground at Tennessee's Savannah Food Co., fried in a trans-fat-free soy oil and served on Leidenheimer's French bread with tartar sauce, iceberg lettuce and bread and butter pickles. Served with hand-cut French fries. Try the lunch feast of half a po' boy served with gumbo, fries, hush puppies and crawfish étouffée.
• $9-$10.75. 303 E. Howard Ave., Decatur. 404-474-2591, www.thedepeaux.com.
GRANT PARK
The casual spot for real Cajun eats is beloved for its po' boys — there are more than a dozen of them — but the restaurant, which just opened a new spot in College Park, moves shrimp and oyster sandwiches, as well as the popular "half and half" option, most often. The seafood is bathed in an egg wash lightly seasoned with Cajun spices, deep-fried and placed on Leidenheimer's French bread. Fully dressed, it comes with Mambo sauce — a spicy Creole mustard — mayonnaise, lettuce and pickles. Half and whole sizes are available. Whole po' boys are served with one side.
• $6.95-$10.95. 313 Boulevard S.E. 404-525-4001, www.justloafn.net. (Another location is at 4894 Old National Hwy., College Park. 404-768-7898.)
— Lynn Peisner
