The Sport of Kings,the perfect pastrami and horns.

Football, the gridiron, tossing the pig skin...this city is football nuts! The Saints..you drive around this town and you see "WHO DAT" everywhere!..what that means is a bit lost on me. But for morale reasons I hope this city wins..This will sound a bit odd but Allison and I aren't what you call sports fans. We have this tradition. On Superbowl Sunday we fix gourmet versions of tail gating food and watch rented movies all day. So being surrounded by rabid Saints fans is a bit odd but not uncool..We were shopping the other day and the clerk asked us why we weren't home watching the game?..well we were hungry. Something we have noticed here that is so cool. Every store we go to has an extensive menu of fresh pre-cooked meals. Not the discus ting crap I had to put up with at Safeway. Here you find a wide variety of fresh coked meats,several sides,desserts,salads. It seems some stores cater to people who have little time to cook. Meals ready to cook or warm up with a wide selection of wine. The stuff is killer. Recently we have had truly amazing oriental food. We visited this place around the corner called"The 5 happiness"..the 5 are "health, wealth, virtue, longevity, and a peaceful death". I had forgotten what great sweet and sour was..This place serve some of the best..the chicken was light and crunchy not greasy with large chucks of well cooked veggies, shrimp fried rice to perfection and a home made sweet ans sour sauce to die for.Back home the over priced excuse for this was sauce out of a can tossed on greasy over cooked dry chicken with no veggies. Here even the won ton was full of veggies and BBQ pork..I love this place. My wives mom and sister are in town. So yesterday we went to this place about a mile from the house called "The Parkway Bakery and Tavern" Funky little place with a dirt driveway. Small bar, seating on Sam's club tables and the place was PACKED!. For good reason! We file and stand in line while looking at the menu. Allison and her mom decide to split a full size fresh oyster po-boy, KK my sister-In Law orders a shrimp po-boy. I couldn't make up my mind. I kept checking out everyone sitting and eating. The Beef and gravy looked killer(the patrons were licking fingers and smiling) but I was in the mood for something a bit different. I noticed the special was a Chicago Dog. Having only seen one on the travel channel. I was interested. There was a pizza joint back home that advertised a Chicago dog. I tried it. Sam's club bun and dog and nothing else. One of the joys of moving here in Rouses(a local food store) makes their own dog buns. Like small baguettes. Just the right size, lots of flavor,slightly crunchy on the outside. For years my complaint about hot dogs had been the poor bun. Most stores stock dry,hard tasteless buns that are dry before you open them. I hate them!. So seeing as how I couldn't make up my mind I order the Chicago dog and a pastrami. The food here was served in butcher paper with condiments on the side. We waited a good 45 minutes....well worth the wait!..what come to my table is just what I've seen on tv. Poppy seed bun,smear of deli style mustard, tomato,lettuce,onions, the greenest relish I'd ever seen...I mean like Christmas wrapping green relish topped off with a dash of celery salt..the taste?..couldn't have been any better if I'd been sitting at Wriggly Fields in the Windy City..it was SUBLIME!!! I was a happy man...finally at 54 I had a real dog..shout "Hallelujah!"..then sitting in a wrapper of white butcher paper was my pastrami..I had ordered it dressed. lettuce,tomato,mustard. The first thing I noticed was the aroma..the deep red richness of the paper thin sliced meat..I could tell they took their time making this..I took a bite and once perfection on a bun!..the bun was the perfect combination of soft and crunchy, the pastrami totally floored me..God how can something as simple as a pastrami sandwich make you want to sing!!!looking around me everyone was licking fingers and smiling. Took a bite of Allison's oyster Po-boy..killer as well...deep juicy briny oyster flavor! This place is a mile from my house and they deliver!...guess where I'll be having lunch..my goal is to work thru the whole menu...guys I know this is wordy..just let me say for 20 years I've lived in Alaska..I could only read about stuff like this and wonder..now it's down the street and on my plate...HORNS..in driving around here I've noticed the locals seem to love honking their horns..I mean at stupid times...I've been honked at sitting at a red light,in the parking lot of a store and at the slightest hesitation at a light!Makes me think the drivers here are all assholes..patience is a virtue...few locals seem to embrace! Well on we go in our continued pursuit of the soul of the south..eat well all...Steve