When I woke up yesterday in the French Quarter (without having to browse late-night text messages), I immediately remembered seeing the Michael Phelps of mexi-mullets last night at BBC and knew that my day was destined for something good. I wasn’t sure why I’d have a good day, but I knew it would involve TV, A/C, relaxing and good food. After getting back to the real world and making time for my usual Sunday visit to Rouse’s on Clearview (my condolences to their family), I remembered another local classic – Danny & Clyde’s. That’s right – a convenience store.

I was hungry for lunch and I knew what I wanted. I pull into the fine establishment on Citrus in River Ridge to see the shrimp poboy that I craved was the current special – $2.99 for the regular 6″. Here’s how it went – regular fried shrimp poboy, toasted, add lettuce, tomatoes, mayo, pickles, ketchup, hot sauce, and japs, all served with a side of red beans and rice. All told, the meal cost less than $5, which is enough to make anyone I know happy. It’s kind of awkward ordering there though, b/c the workers are less than 10′ away from you and you have to order on a computer screen as they refuse to even acknowledge you. So, after browsing through the latest News on Wheels for a couple of minutes and checking out some great deals on rent to own 24″ rims, I finally got my sandwich and beans.  I thank the guy for handing me a blessing wrapped in deli paper and the way he looked at me made me understand how Rihanna felt right before Chris Brown started swinging.

So I get home, open the poboy and much to my delight, it is overflowing with fresh fried, golden shrimp, just the right size, and fried to perfection. I may have had more shrimp not on the poboy than was actually on it. At first, I was a bit apprehensive about ordering ketchup on my sandwich as opposed to applying it myself, but when I had my first bite, I knew everything would be alright, as the ketchup had settled nicely on the sandwich. The sandwich, in my opinion is phenomenal, and is my favorite shrimp poboy of all time. I think the only thing that would make the poboy better would be Leidenheimer’s french bread, which is what Acme uses.

Next, on to the red beans. I’m not quite sure, but I’m really curious as to where D&C gets their red beans, as it tastes suspiciously like Acme’s RB&R. If this is the case, they buy it from the Diversified Foods Group of Al Copeland fame. I keep telling myself it’s in the name of research that I continue to order them. The consistency is definitely different from that of Acme’s, with D&C’s being a little more thinned out, but the rice was in perfect proportion to the amount of red beans. I initially didn’t set out to eat the entire serving in one setting, but you know what they say, “when in Rome.”

If I had out-of-town guests who wanted a damned good shrimp poboy and red beans and rice, this is the place I’d take them. After all, it’s tough to find News on Wheels in the Quarter.

Signed,

ICP