Verti Marte: Best Po-Boy in the French Quarter

Foodies, sandwich aficionados, and lovers of off-the-beaten-path food options, here's a New Orleans secret. It's an increasingly poorly-kept secret, sure, but it still hasn't made most of the guidebooks and most locals are too protective to tell you about it: Verti Marte. 

Where Verti Marte

It's located in the French Quarter on Royal Street. You'll find it just kitty-corner from the infamous Lalaurie Mansion. It's a grocery store. Barely. It kind of defines hole-in-the-wall, really. It's tiny and cramped, and usually full of locals.

How it Works

Walk in, shuffle sideways past the racks of chips and Hostess Cakes, and make your way to the back, where an enormous menu of po-boys greets you on the back wall. Wait a minute or two, and someone will step onto a box behind the giant counter and greet you.

The menu is overwhelming. Start with the basics (you can come back for more). Try the oyster po-boy, or maybe the shrimp or catfish. If you're really hungry, get an "All That Jazz" -- grilled ham, turkey, shrimp, swiss and American cheese, grilled mushrooms, and the house specialty "wow sauce."

Not a seafood fan? Try the roast beef po-boy. Vegetarian? Try the green giant (mushrooms, onions, bell peppers). Technically speaking, and by the standards of any other American city's portions, two people can split one full-sized po-boy sandwich.

The counter person will ask you if you want it dressed. The correct answer is "yes." (That means lettuce, tomato, mayo, etc.) Then they'll get your name and disappear for a bit. Use this time to go find a drink (a Barq's root beer is a favorite local choice) and a bag of chips. Get the locally-made Zapp's chips -- they're in a weird spot all the way in the front, kind of around the side of the register -- don't give up and get some other brand, just ask the counter person to point you there.

Eventually (it might take a few minutes), they'll call your name. Go back and grab your sandwich and ticket, and take them, along with your chips and soda, to the registers at the front. Pay (cash only), get your bag, and then hightail it back to your hotel, or if that's too far, to a bench in nearby Jackson Square.
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Don't fall for the tourist traps for your po-boy (there are plenty of them) -- head to Verti Marte. It doesn't get much more authentic than this.

1201 Royal St. / (504) 525-4767