The Famous Ferdi Special Po’Boy

Mother’s Restaurant specializes in authentic New Orleans home cooking.  For over 70 years, Mother’s has maintained its position as serving the most highly rated po’boy sandwich in all of New Orleans.

Historically, the name po’boy refers to the sandwiches made from hot gravy and scraps of roast beef ladled onto French bread and sold to “poor boys” from the back doors of the restaurants.

Local lore holds that the po’boy was coined in a New Orleans restaurant owned by Benny and Clovis Martin, a former streetcar conductor, during a four-month strike against the streetcar company when Martin served his former colleagues free sandwiches.

The signature po’boy at Mother’s Restaurant is the Famous Ferdi Special.  It’s Mother’s Best Baked Ham, roast beef, debris (roast beef that falls into the gravy while cooking), and gravy.  All meat po’boys at Mother’s come “dressed”, which means also included is fresh shredded cabbage, pickles, mayo, and Creole and yellow mustard.

Clearly, one of the best sandwiches we’ve ever encountered!

The Famous Ferdi Special is regularly featured on “best sandwich” lists in major publications and is simply a must when you visit New Orleans.

While visiting we also sampled yummy turtle soup, seafood gumbo, red beans & rice, crawfish etouffée, fried oysters, and their famous bread pudding.  The turtle soup, fried oysters, and bread pudding were also standouts.

We highly recommend a visit, and make certain to get there early as Mother’s takes no reservations and we’ve seen lines of folks stretched out the door and down the sidewalk waiting to get in.

If you happen to visit Mother’s Restaurant during lunch you will find yourself in one of the most famous landmarks in the Central Business District (CBD), and within walking distance of the National D-Day Museum, the French Quarter, the Superdome, the Convention Center, Harrah’s Casino, and the Aquarium of the Americas.