A month ago I received an email from a PR person about the arrival in town of Savvy Sliders, which was partnering with Fat Boy’s Pizza to offer gourmet fast food to the masses.
I have found Fat Boy’s Pizza a fun thing to think about since the first time I heard about it. Just the name makes me laugh, and they aren’t kidding. The pizzas are about the size of a car tire. No one needs me to reiterate my opinion of the brilliance of this business model. This is a genius concept: offer mediocre pizza to kids whose parents want to socialize and make the whole thing a pleasant place to hang out, and success is inevitable. Meteoric success, in fact. Fat Boy’s is a nine-location concept in only two plus years and they are already moving into other states.
So why partner with another concept? We had the spokesman for Savvy Sliders on the show recently, and I was still mystified that a concept out of Michigan and one here in Metairie joined forces to bring the roster of All-American foods here. He was appropriately enthusiastic about Savvy Sliders, and I had to admit it was contagious.
Not long after the show we headed over to try these sliders, et al., and there were a lot “of others.” The menu at Savvy Sliders is surprisingly large, with nine sliders, fries, two kinds of chicken nuggets, and frozen custard shakes for dessert.
We ran into Brad the owner, who explained what I still didn’t understand. How did Savvy Sliders in Michigan and Fat Boy’s in Metairie come together? How did they meet?
Brad was visionary enough to trademark two slogans that are spot-on descriptive for Fat Boy’s. One is “Size Matters”, and the other is “More To Love.” Savvy Sliders was also using the latter slogan in Michigan and that’s how they met. Instead of the usual way that such things go, Brad thought it a good idea to increase Fat Boy’s offerings to include all the food from Savvy Sliders. A partnership was formed.
Renovations commenced to accommodate the increased menu, and Fat Boy’s is better than ever.
After my radio conversation with the Savvy Sliders rep, I wanted to try every slider. There is a basic burger, a Boomin' burger with Boom sauce, a chicken slider, a spicy chicken slider, and a falafel slider. Four premium sliders round out the menu. There is a cod sandwich, a steakhouse rib-eye, The Hangover, which includes bacon and a fried egg, and the double stack slider. All of these come with crinkle-cut fries, the same fries served with the chicken nuggets that come in regular and spicy versions.
We ordered the burger and Boomin’ burger and the original chicken sandwich, as well as the spicy version, and the cod. I love cod though I feel guilty eating it.
Brad wanted us to try the chicken fingers too, so we got both regular and spicy. And he offered Tom a custard shake. When he mentioned the new shake, banana with Nilla Wafer pieces throughout, we had to get that one.
The little sandwiches were terrific. Instead of the usual slider program of meat and maybe cheese but a little dab of ketchup and a pickle slice, this was fully dressed like a regular burger, only smaller. The Boomin’ burger had all this plus a spicy sauce. The bun was soft and perfectly sturdy for the rest of the sandwich, and the sauce popped it up a notch. The cod sandwich was a surprise. Instead of a square fish stick like you-know-where, here was a piece of fried fish that was shaped like fish, sticking out on both ends of the bun.
The chicken was just as good. Crispy white meat chicken breast was also dressed fully, and just like the two burgers, it had a jacked-up version. The spicy chicken was really spicy, though that wasn’t really apparent until after it was eaten. The spice collected in the throat.
This duo was repeated in the nuggets. These were tender chicken pieces that pulled apart easily. I’m afraid that blasphemous as it is to say, I think I prefer these to our hometown nuggets. 
All of this was accompanied by very good crinkle-cut fries. They are larger than both Cane’s and Shake Shack and dusted in any of three coatings. These were very good, and I don’t even like that kind of fries.
We didn’t finish all of this, and we couldn’t finish it. But that didn’t stop us from the custard shake. Tom loved this, and even though I’m not a fan of bananas, this was very good. It was thick and creamy and full of banana flavor, with a little random crunch of Nilla Vanilla Wafer pieces.
It was a really pleasant lunch. The entire staff couldn’t have been more competent and friendly. The place looks great. And we really enjoyed the food. I looked up at the neon sign on the wall where you order. It said, “More to Love.” Perfect.
