Mobileâs best po-boys: Our Top 5
Let’s be honest. You don’t have to go far to find a good po-boy in Mobile. There are some great ones to be had, and in an effort to help you find them, here’s a guide to some of our favorites.
While this list focuses on Mobile proper, you can take it for granted that the rest of Mobile County and Baldwin Country are strewn with fine po-boys, particularly if you want the mainstay, the basic fried shimp sandwich. While this list doesn’t touch on Baldwin, we feel obliged to mention that at the Flying Harpoon in Orange Beach, they’ll sell you a 15-inch “King” version of their roast beef debris po-boy ($24), with optional provolone if you want another thousand calories, and they don’t even ask you to provide a doctor’s note or list your next of kin. We had one a while back at the Harpoon’s Gulf Shores branch office (since closed), and it was like someone had taken a whole loaf of French bread, garnished it with a little bit of tomato and lettuce, then ladled an entire crock pot’s worth of slow-cooked roast beef on it.
We still can’t believe we ate the whole thing. But if you believe in yourself, anything’s possible. And if you believe in finding an excellent po-boy in Mobile, here’s where you need to go.
Mudbugs at the Loop combines a seafood market and restaurant.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
5. MUDBUGS AT THE LOOP
2005 Government St.; mudbugscajunseafood.com
You can get a po-boy almost anywhere in Alabama these days. They aren’t exclusive to the coast. But places like this are: Half seafood market, half-carryout venue for cooked seafood, half dine-in restaurant. You get a fine waterfront aroma, even though it’s miles from the shore, and the bustle of a finely tuned machine.
We went with the baseline fried shrimp option for $14.49 and weren’t disappointed in the least. Why would we be, with plenty of piping-hot, freshly fried shrimp and fried okra on the side?
Order this: Given the name of the venue, there’s a strong case to be made for the fried crawfish tail po-boy ($15.99).
The Dew Drop’s fried oyster po-boy is a classic, served with steak fries and a few tasty onion rings on top. (Michelle Matthews/[email protected])
4. DEW DROP INN
1808 Old Shell Road; facebook.com/DewDropInn.Mobile.AL
The Dew Drop, Mobile’s oldest restaurant (it says so on the sign out front!), is best known for its chili dogs. Most customers don’t even have to look at a menu before they order, but if you ever feel like steering away from the usual, you might consider ordering one of their mammoth po-boys.
If owner Powell Hamlin is in the kitchen window, which he usually is, your sandwich will be piled high with crispy, cornmeal-battered oysters atop buttered, toasted bread, dressed with lettuce and tomato. Pickles, tartar sauce and cocktail sauce are served alongside, as well as plenty of hot steak fries and a couple of onion rings. It’s good stuff, like everything served at this local institution. There are reasons for its staying power.
Order this: If you love fried oysters, the po-boy is the way to go. If your appetite is smaller, order the smaller fried oyster loaf.
In addition to cookies, brownies, cakes and other bakes goods, Pollman’s offers three types of po-boys. (Michelle Matthews/[email protected])
3. POLLMAN’S BAKE SHOP
750 S. Broad St.; pollmansbakery.com/
The po-boys at Pollman’s have been around at least as long as the bakery’s dobash cakes and chocolate rock cookies, and for good reason. You’ll not find a finer cold sandwich, wrapped simply in paper and stamped “po boy.” The lunch special at this beloved bakery includes your choice of po-boy, a bag of Zapp’s potato chips and a cookie or brownie.
Choose from ham, turkey or roast beef po-boys, each dressed slightly differently. Pollman’s also sells deli meat and cheese by the pound as well as po-boy rolls if you want to make your own sandwiches at home.
Order this: Ham! The ham po-boy includes thinly sliced ham topped with a slice of Swiss cheese, mayonnaise lightly spread on the top half of the freshly baked bread and a pickle sliced lengthwise. It is the perfect combination of flavors and textures. Pro tip: Adding a little more mayo and some yellow mustard makes it even better.
The grilled shrimp po-boy at Callaghan’s Irish Social Club will make you forget you’re in a venue best-known for burgers.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
2. CALLAGHAN’S IRISH SOCIAL CLUB
916 Charleston St.; callaghansirishsocialclub.com
Callaghan’s is known mainly for its burgers, and for good reason. The regular burger is one of the area’s best and the L.A. Burger, featuring a mix of beef and Conecuh sausage, has a cult following.
But: If you can tear yourself away from the obvious choice, the grilled shrimp po-boy ($13.95) has incredible flavor. There’s nothing like it, and you won’t end up with menu envy even if you’re sitting across from someone enjoying a fully loaded bacon cheeseburger. It’s that good. You can also get it with blackened shrimp.
Order this: The chips are fine, but act like a grownup and pick the tomato-cucumber salad as your side. You’ll be glad you did.
The Oyster Rockefeller po-boy at Debris is just one example of the venue’s exquisite variations on familiar po-boy themes.Lawrence Specker | [email protected]
1. DEBRIS PO-BOYS & DRINKS
276 Dauphin St.; debrispoboys.com
We met a colleague at Debris and explained we were on a research mission to find the best po-boys in Mobile. His response: “What are you doing to do? Come here three or four times?”
He had a point. As you might guess from the name, Debris was purpose-built to serve New Orleans-caliber po-boys in downtown Mobile. They get it right, too: The right bread, a mouth-watering array of conventional and unconventional options, and a bag of Zapp’s chips on the side.
Our colleague went with the Oyster Rockefeller sandwich ($15.99 for the small version), featuring fried oysters on garlic French bread with a creamy parmesan Rockefeller sauce. It was pure salty decadence. We had the Thanksgiving Everyday (TED) po-boy ($13.99), a creation that piles house-roasted turkey atop cornbread stuffing and tops that with cranberry sauce. It sounds like a gimmick, but it’s comfort-food heaven. It’s better than the leftover sandwich you’re going to make for yourself on Nov. 24, we guarantee.
Order this: If you’re new at this and want to play it safe, go with the joint’s namesake. The Debris gives you “slow braised beef shoulder and short rib dressed with provolone, mayo, lettuce, tomato and Au Jus.” But keep an eye out for daily specials, too. You never know when you’ll see that Sloppy Joe-boy again.
READ: Debris: When it comes to po-boys, the name means flavor