Yesterday we had a caller who remembered a meatball poor boy at Mandina’s so fondly he was still thinking about it 7 years later. I asked him to describe it, because I don’t know much about meatball poor boys. I never get them. What little I know has been by observance of someone else’s sandwich. I know that a lot of restaurants have them, but I don’t pay that much attention to them.
The last time I even thought about this Italian sandwich was when we visited the Jersey sub shop Francolini’s a year or two ago.
The meatball sub was on great seeded sub bread, but the meatballs were large and lined up in a marinara. It was a fine sandwich but I was alarmed that the meatballs were whole meatballs.
That didn’t stop me from voicing an opinion that in New Orleans, our meatball sandwiches were made of sliced or crumbled meatballs. I just had never noticed a meatball sandwich with whole meatballs. This opinion seems to be mostly incorrect.
Today when I went to lunch at Lola in Covington, there was a meatball poor boy on the menu, and I had to investigate. It was a smallish sandwich but big enough for two. Each half had one large meatball on it, with ample marinara. But this was a fancy poor boy, which included a lemon and basil aioli as well as what they described as melty Provolone cheese.
The meatballs were too large for my taste and too firm, but those are my only two complaints. The combination of flavors here was quite nice. I wound up taking the meatball off the bread and slicing it, which just seems a better arrangement. To me. My curiosity was aroused enough to make some inquiries about meatball poor boys around town. My theory is definitely not correct, but neither is it incorrect. It seems that meatball sandwiches or poor boys are served differently depending on where you order them. The only one I ever ordered in a restaurant was at Desi Vega’s Steakhouse in Metairie, where the meatballs are whole. But the Desi Vega meatball tends to be smallish, and (the best out there, in my opinion.) It is also a softer meatball, so it crumbles when handled. The ideal state of a meatball, to me.
I checked with Frankie & Johnny’s Uptown, whose meatballs are also whole, but tend to get smashed when the sandwich is topped with the bread. This seems the natural course, and maybe it’s my view because as I stated, a meatball should only be held together until it is touched, whereupon it should crumble.
I was surprised that Venezia did not have a meatball poor boy on the menu, but Mandina’s did. It must have been here that my image of the proper meatball poor boy was formed. The meatballs are sliced before they go on the sandwich. That seems the New Orleans way. I will have to tell that to the caller the next time he calls. He remembered everything else about this sandwich. That must have been a heckuva sandwich. It makes me want to give a meatball poor boy another try.
