Fried po’ boys? Never my style. But with Mardi Gras coming up, I’ve been craving my favorite po’ boy something fierce. I’m a roast-beef debris girl (unless, of course, it’s the slow-roasted duck po’ boy at Crabby Jack’s in New Orleans). And I’ve only found one place in NoVA to get my NOLA favorite. That would be Bayou Bakery in Arlington.
The Arm Drip is so-named because, as chef-owner David Guas puts it, “You always judged a good sandwich in New Orleans by how many napkins you use.” Guas explains that the sloppy roast-beef po’ boy is modeled on the one at the now-shuttered Charlie’s Delicatessen in NOLA’s Lakeview neighborhood, near the home of a lifelong friend. “There was one sandwich on the menu called The Red Man,” Guas recalls. He decided that at his own restaurant, he would replicate the sandwich that he loved during his childhood exactly as he remembered it.
A key component of that is French bread from Leidenheimer Baking Co. that Guas has flown up from New Orleans. Fluffy and bubble-filled inside, the exterior is crisp enough to stand up to its contents. That includes sliced roast beef in a peppery gravy that soaks into the crevices of the bread’s soft center. It’s aided in that effort by mayonnaise, which adds a zip to the creamy proceedings. A layer of Swiss cheese adheres to both the inside and the outside of the bread, as pretty as it is warm and nutty. Guas finishes the sandwich with a pile of onions that melt almost beyond recognition amid the meat, cheese, and bread. There are no substitutions to The Arm Drip, but it’s already exactly as it should be. It’s a living tribute to a long-ago sandwich, best finished with a $3 trio of pillowy beignets buried in powdered sugar.
1515 N. Courthouse Rd., Arlington
Feature image by Alice Levitt
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