Turkey & The Wolf
The first summer we lived in Ohio, I spent two weeks on the road exploring the American South East, which of course included a multi-day stop in New Orleans. (You can read more about that road trip here) Earlier this spring, along with my family, we re-did the second leg of the trip, starting in New Orleans, then Memphis, onto Nashville, and finally back home to Columbus. (yes, that is still weird, even three years on). It wasn’t until this trip, however, that I learned of Turkey & The Wolf.
My Mom and Terry (her husband, my step-dad) were in charge of the driving and VRBO‘s, Alex (my brother) & Shelby (his bride to be) took care of the restaurant research. This time around, Jeff and I were solely along for the ride (me, with my camera and notebook in hand), and we couldn’t have been happier.
Lunch at Turkey & The Wolf
We hit up Turkey & The Wolf on a Sunday, making sure to arrive early enough to get a solid spot in the line that forms daily.
The extent of what I knew about the place we were going was that it was a Sandwich shop and that it had been awarded Bon Appetit’s Restaurant of the Year of 2017, beyond that, nada. Located at 739 Jackson Ave, New Orleans LA 70130, it’s on a corner (with a small off-street parking lot) and as you can see above, tucked up against residential housing. It looks tiny.
The line queues to the left of the door, wrapping around the side of the building, and through the front door into a room that feels far roomier than it looks like it should be, and decorated is straight out of every 80’s kids memory of lunch boxes.
Fried Bologna Sandwiches & Other Works of Art
Mason’s take on a bologna sandwich had nothing in common with the mayo-and-Wonder-Bread ones I grew up eating. In his, three slices of locally made bologna were griddle-fried, blanketed in American cheese, and stacked on thick-cut, butter-griddled Pullman slices with house-made hot mustard, Duke’s brand mayo, and “shrettuce” (what Mason calls shredded lettuce). It was further crunchified with two fistfuls of vinegar-brined potato chips. The whole thing was the size of a Chihuahua. – Andrew Knowlton, via bonappetit.com
These sandwiches, they’re culinary works of art. They’re also HUGE. Once we’d joined the queue along the side of the building, discussion began around who was ordering what, from a strategic standpoint, to make sure we covered as many flavors as possible, while at the same time remembering that we had a booking at Commanders Palace for dinner that night.
Across the board, the fellas went with the fried bologna, the ladies with the Pork & Peppers. The menu description of the pork & peppers is this… pork shoulder slow-cooked with habaneros and oranges, crispy pig ear, shrettuce, onions, and citrus mayo served open face on roti bread with a side of habanero vinegar (the description doesn’t being to do the flavors justice). Deviled Eggs were added onto orders, as were an array of local brews, we were given our order markers and sent off to find a table. I vote for adding tacos to our order, in the name of trying out all of the flavors, annnnnd was roundly veto’d.
Pro Tip: get there early to a. beat the line, but more importantly if you’re planning on eating in, b. so you can easily grab a table.
Andrew Knowlton’s description (as quoted above) is dead on. These sandwiches are in fact, the size of Chihuahuas. Sitting side by side, the Pork & Peppers has a visually smaller profile than that of the Fried Bologna, but don’t let appearances fool you. They’re both solid, substantial, and perfectly balanced in terms of flavor and texture.
We can’t wait to go back, after all, those tacos are calling my name.
