Likewise, we are better known for barbecue than fine dining. You don't read much about the symphony or the opera in the Houston Press music section. When food writers and chefs from New York, California and Europe visit Houston, they want me to take them to smoky meat markets for brisket or Tex-Mex temples for enchiladas or soul food joints for Southern breakfasts. It's not that we're bereft of brilliant chefs and great restaurants. We have plenty, but so does every other city.
Chefs come and go, but classic peasant dishes are forever.
The French understand this point of view, and they set an excellent example by respecting both ends of the food spectrum. You can't compare a gritty poor boy shop to the fanciest restaurant in town. But you can judge both on how well they accomplish what they set out to do. And with its rendition of the folk-art form known as the oyster poor boy, the humble dive called Original New Orleans Po' Boy approaches greatness. Inc. All rights reserved.