Description:

The Mid-City area of New Orleans is undergoing a massive physical transformation, with the new 1.2 billion dollar University Medical Center project taking over 34 acres of wide swath of land bounded by Tulane Avenue, South Claiborne, Canal Street and South Galvez. When it opens, it will bring many hungry doctors, nurses, health care staffers, and relatives of patients to the area.

And, we know just where they should go: Avery’s Poboys at Tulane and South Rocheblave Street, near the Criminal District Court. Opened in 2012 by a married couple and open six days a week for lunch and breakfast, it’s a poboy shop that offers the usual New Orleans specialties of roast beef poboys and chicken gumbo. But then there’s the deep-fried potato salad croquettes, with bacon and cheddar cheese inside. Or the Buffalo Shrimp poboy, with blue cheese and Buffalo sauce standing in for the usual cocktail sauce. Or the Oysters Rockefeller poboy; hey, if it’s good on a plate, why not put that sauce on French bread?

Along with all the Poboys, you can get wonderful Chicken Caesar salads too, or the Buffalo Shrimp salad if you’re watching your carbs-no sacrifice in flavor! The tiny restaurant serves beer and wine if you want to dine in, but it’s convenient to call ahead and pick up your order too.  In a town jammed with neighbor- hood joints serving mediocre red beans and poboys, this one brings some imagination to the table.