Mother’s in the Big Easy

Head to downtown New Orleans and you are bound to see a rather curious line forming outside of a dilapidated old brick building. Visitors waiting in line don’t seem to mind; after all, they are about to receive the greatest po-boys in the city. Mother’s Restaurant is well known throughout the Big Easy for their exceptional cooking. Tourists are always a bit confused at first–all this fuss for a hole in the wall establishment with little seating? But one bite of their overstuffed and dripping roast beef debris po-boy and the secrets of the universe seem to unfold before your eyes. Okay, so maybe its not quite that good, but it’s the closest thing I’ve experienced.

Located on the corner of Poydras and Tchoupitoulas (Chop-a-TOO-lis) street, Mother’s is nestled in the heart of the Central Business District a few blocks from the mighty Mississippi River. Originally established in 1938, few things about Mother’s have changed. You don’t go to Mother’s for the ambiance, and you certainly don’t go there for a dining experience. In fact, Mother’s only has a handful of crowded tables and bar stools. You do go there, however, for the food. Patrons eagerly gobble down shrimp Po-boys and jambalaya and wash them down with ice cold Barq’s root beer (or Dixie beer if there’s a Saints game at the Superdome). If you linger a little too long over your plate, you are bound to have new guests breathing over your shoulder, waiting to take your place and begin their meal.

What makes Mother’s so unique is their resistance to change, even in today’s fast-paced society. One would naturally assume that as their popularity grew, so would their establishment, but Mother’s refuses to change, expand, and compromise the very sandwiches that made them famous. They continue to do things the way they’ve always done things and really, you can’t argue with the results.

In every town there is a restaurant like Mother’s—an establishment dedicated to good food and tradition. Most of them are hole in the wall places that are legendary to locals and a few observant tourists. But if you are ever in a city (New Orleans included) and you see a line curling around a rundown restaurant, take my advice–that is where you should eat.