3 foods you must have for Mardi Gras

Celebrate Mardi Gras without gumbo, po’boys and king cake? Unthinkable.

Debris po’boy from the Po’Boy Shop

Partners Dave Schmidt and Mark Ferguson are about to celebrate their first Mardi Gras at the Po’Boy Shop in Decatur. Neither is a native of New Orleans, although Schmidt has been perfecting his Cajun recipes for more than 20 years. We’ve tried just about every one of the house specialties — red beans and rice, Cajun meat pies, crawfish pies, jalapeno hush puppies and the delicious house-made remoulade and horseradish sauces. The food is about as authentic New Orleans as you can get this far from the Big Easy, because they use Camellia red beans for the red beans and rice; Gulf seafood for the sandwiches, salads and sides; and bread from New Orleans’ 120-year-old Leidenheimer Baking Co. for the po’boys. And, what lovely po’boys they are. There are more than a dozen varieties, including shrimp, oyster, crawfish, catfish, grouper and more. We tried the house specialty, the debris po’boy, a big mess of a sandwich piled high with tender roast beef and dressed with horseradish sauce. It’s so addictive that, when we couldn’t finish the regular (which is huge), we saved it and tackled it with a knife and fork the next day, so as not to miss a single bite.

$9 for small, $13 for a regular debris po’boy. Available at the Po’Boy Shop, 1369 Clairmont Road, Decatur. 678-974-8725, thepoboyshopatl.com. Or order with Doordash.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS The debris po’boy from the Po’Boy Shop.