Scheduling a po boy lunch in downtown New Orleans on the first major Carnival weekend was not one of our more savvy moves. After circling through and around the Central Business District for a half hour we finally found a parking place. Somewhere near Lake Pontchartrain.

A 45 minute walk later we stride up to Majoria’s Commerce Restaurant.

Commerce Restaurant has been putting out hotplates, lumberjack breakfasts, and po boys for the downtown lunch crowd since 1965. Our first visit came back in the 80s and little has changed since then.

The setup is the same as it’s always been. You shuffle down the hotline, ask after what your heart desires and the smiling lunch ladies get it ready for you; sometimes before you can even score a seat you’re handed your lunch.

The cooks have been here forever and the owner is the cashier. It’s that kind of joint. Expect for the gals behind the counter to cut up with you a little bit. Our dining companion is a regular and he doesn’t even have to tell the women what he wants; they instinctively get it ready for him and put it up on the food bar.

I’m dying for a shrimp po boy and Majoria’s has a good one. It’s on the small side by New Orleans standards but the good crusty French bread loaf has been well-buttered and stuffed with plenty 50 count shrimps. They’re properly fried in good clean oil and need neither salt nor pepper. I don’t even go after hot sauce. This is one well-seasoned sandwich.

Tariff is $12. In the 9th Ward, where we live, that same 12 bucks will get a po boy big enough to feed three people but rent in the CBD beggars the imagination. We leave full and content and begin the long hike back to the Econoline.

Commerce can get busy but not like nearby Mother’s where the line stretches down the block. Mother’s is for the tourists; Commerce is for the locals.

If you like feeling your blood boil read about what happened to Majoria’s in the immediate aftermath of Katrina. Frankly, it’s too depressing for us to narrate in this space and we enjoy a feeling of camaraderie with our fellow New Orleanians. Some of whom did not act neighborly following the storm.

Majoria’s Commerce Restaurant
300 Camp St
New Orleans, Louisiana
70130

Telephone
504-561-9239

I took a little break from my 500 po boys series due to gaining 18lbs from eating massive loaves of french bread stuffed full of fried foods. I’m back.