Louisiana Oyster Jubilee

336 ft of oyster heaven!!! LOVE oysters and this was the place to be this past weekend.
To sum it up, our fine restaurants compete in a block long oyster po-​boy challenge once a yr. Each restaurant has a section of this block long poboy to make their own version of this classic po-​boy.
Last year third place went to GW Fins. Second place went to Vincent’s Italian Cuisine.
Last year’s winner? Executive Chef Richard from the Original Pierre Maspero’s!!! Judging is based on flavor, fare, and creativeness. Chef Richard’s «Around the World Po-​Boy» came decked out in sauteed spinach, crumbled bleu cheese, and a lemon thai aioli. YUM YUM YUM! I am a fan of Pierre Maspero’s and of Chef Richard. Well I love all three of these restaurants in fact.
This year at the 6^th annual Oyster Jubilee 28 restaurants again competed in the 300 block of Bourbon St. I didn’t stay long so I missed the winner’s announcement but I heard Pier 424 won. Pier 424 and Pierre Maspero’s are part of the same group of restaurants in the Quarter. Winners two years in a row!
Free oyster po-​boys! Friendly competition! Happy people! Full tummys! You can’t go wrong stopping here once a year and watching these hard-​working chefs put their talents to work.
Congrats to all of the restaurants and chefs for all of your greatness! Your culinary creativity is what keeps us craving food in this city ²⁴⁄₇. Keep it up.

I had a friend visiting from out of town, so I did a little research on what was going on in this great city of ours. I came across the Louisiana Oyster Jubilee on
and found out that they were going to have a 350 foot-​long po boy with 5,000 fried oysters at this event. That was enough to convince me, and after being out until 5 in the morning the night before, we woke up in just a few hours to attend this event.
Having read that the Ceremonial cut of the giant oyster po boy takes place at noon, I had wanted for us to get there by 11:30 or so. Well, we didn’t manage to get there until 5 minutes to noon, but luckily for us, our friends were there already, waiting for us at the front of the table, and with daiquiri in hands.
The way it works is that there are many restaurants that participate in this event and they each have a table. It is also a chef competition, so each restaurant is there to showcase their best oyster po boy. My friends were standing in front of the tables for Vincent’s Italian Cuisine and for Ernst Café. And it was awesome being able to see the chefs prepare their respective po boys. Ernst Café provided us with a po boy that had not only the delicious, fried oysters but also roast beef. This po boy was complete fully dressed and with cheese. Vincent’s Italian Cuisine presented an Oyster Rockefeller po boy. They first put the fried oysters on the bread, then spinach, then Parmesan… I thought they were done at this point, and this is when they whipped out the torch and blackened the cheese. My friends and I were thoroughly impressed. There were volunteers who were oyster runners, and when they brought more, the Vincent’s guys kept stuffing the po boy with more oysters. To the right there was a table for Red Fish Grill and they incorporated bacon into their oyster po boy. There were people who had been waiting in front of that table since much earlier than when my friends got there.
The po boys were all done and we were waiting anxiously for the countdown for the ceremonial cut. The organizers kept teasing us with «before we do the countdown…» a number of times and the cut actually happened around 12:30. I had read that the po boys were gone within 15 minutes of the cut in the past, and this was probably accurate again this time, if not quicker.
I wasn’t sure what the honorable thing to do was so I got one and started eating it rather than double-​fisting. Later, as we stepped back away from the tables to enjoy our po boys, we saw some people who were carrying a plate full of the different po boys. Perhaps next year I will have a better strategy. =P
Don’t get me wrong though. I walked away with a happily full stomach and when we went to a restaurant, all I wanted were some raw oysters, partly because I didn’t have all that much room in my tummy.
I will most definitely put this on my calendar next year!
(The Louisiana Oyster Jubilee runs from 10 am to 2 pm and is a celebration of Louisiana’s musical and culinary culture. Sorry my review only focuses on the giant po boy, but I was distracted by all that deliciousness!)