We were over on the Southshore for one of the many trips to The Apple Store recently and decided to pick up sandwiches at Parran’s Po-Boys. Every time we visit Parran’s I am struck by how good it is, so it is understandable that it is busy all the time. We managed to hit it before the rush, or it might have been the generally nasty weather that allowed us a quick in and out.
The order was simple: a half muffuletta and a roast beef poor boy. I asked for light gravy because their brand is the “gravy bath,” and Tom’s perennial complaint about roast beef poor boys around town is that they are too sloppy. This one was perfect. The ratio of gravy to bread was just what Tom would hope. Lots of fresh dressings and the extra pickles we requested. I snatched a few pieces of meat from the sandwich as I was heating it, and there was plenty enough for it to go unnoticed, (not that Tom would be checking.) It had the ideal roast beef taste that Tom always talked about.
This was a very good poor boy. I wanted to eat more of it, but the gigantic half muffuletta was waiting for me. I sliced one of the large quarters in half again, which is still a substantial meal. But who can stop there? Certainly not me. It was the ideal ratio of meat to bread. No dislodging of the jaw to eat it. Even without mortadella, whose absence I see a lot these days, it was still a terrific taste. After the first half-half I had to finish the other. They did it exactly as I requested, room temp inside with a toasting of the bread.
I asked for it to be just toasted but not heated enough to melt the cheese, which was always Tom’s complaint about muffulettas. Melted cheese is greasy, adding to the olive salad oil. Too much. It took me a while to come around to this idea, but he is right. In my opinion, there was too much olive salad on this sandwich, but I love olive salad so much I’d never complain about that. And I’m sure if there wasn’t that much other people would complain that there isn’t enough. So I happily ate all the olives that spilled from the edges.
We both had the other half of our sandwiches the following day. Nothing wrong with that. We’re going to have to go back there and sit down and savor some of the other things here. It’s good.
