Tom had a tale for many years on The Food Show, saying he ate a hamburger every Fourth of July, but he was 15 years behind on the tradition. The number varied depending on the year he said it. From the very first time I heard this anecdote, I tried futilely to picture Tom at McDonald’s for whatever reason.
On this Fourth of July, I planned to eat hamburgers, but I wanted Castle Burgers, which I was told on the Food Show are available at Tastee Donuts. As I understand it, Castle Burgers are a local version of Krystal, a national chain Tom has long been obsessed with but rarely claims his addiction. Naturally, Tastee was closed today and there was no way I was going into the French Quarter for Krystal Hamburgers.
A hot dog from Parkway Bakery was next on the list. We often talk about this hot dog on The Food Show so today seemed a good time to try it.
I love everything about Parkway. We drove up to the front of the building to enter the old way, but Tom didn’t seem to want to get out. No problem for me. I have become a big fan of drive-by food. The new system at Parkway is ideal for us. The place is constantly expanding, and I was hoping to sit in the air conditioning and have table service at the new Jay’s Place, but there didn’t seem a way to get Tom out. I got back into the car and placed a phone order for pickup in the enormous parking lot. We sat in space #2 until the food was delivered.
I got a 10-inch hot dog to split with cheddar cheese, relish, and yellow mustard with chili on the side. I have been told that the hot dog is Sabrett and that it is split and grilled. I was looking forward to this hot dog on French bread.
It wasn’t long before they showed up at the window to deliver the sandwich to me, I poured some chili on one side of it. I've loved the chili at Parkway since the first time I had it, on the chili cheese fries, From then on I was hooked on this very New Orleans chili. It was just like my mom’s, but she never put beans in hers. There were kidney beans showing up throughout.
A hot dog needs a side and I have been thinking about Zapp’s Crawtators for a while, so I got two bags of those. We ate this in the car, and enjoyed every bite.
This is not the thing to get at Parkway, a mecca for great sandwiches served on French Bread. But it was exactly the thing to get today, on the Fourth of July.
Hope you had a good one!
