Cheeky Sandwiches (Round 2)

Cheeky Sandwiches

35 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002 (Chinatown/LES)

7/27/18

Half-Half Sea Po'Boy (1/2 fried shrimp, 1/2 fried oyster, lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickles, and hot sauce)

Sides: Beef Sandwich (Braised short rib, horseradish sauce, arugula, cherry tomatoes, challah bread), Bread Pudding, "Ben-Yay's"

2.3/5 Looking to salvage our exploration into the New Orleans' sandwich scene after last week's average muffuletta, this week we tried the half-half sea po'boy from Cheeky Sandwiches. Unfortunately for us, this fishy sandwich was a downright flop (pun intended). Even the hopeful 4.0s from Ronan and Alex couldn't save this 1/2 fried shrimp, 1/2 fried oyster disaster. Why did we hate this sandwich? Well for one, the oyster was far too fishy and obviously not fresh. The shrimp half was much, much better, but unfortunately not enough to salvage the whole thing. If you weren't tasting salty fish, the sandwich predominately tasted like hot sauce...and not in a good way. See, I like spicy foods, but this sandwich managed to be completely one-note when it came to spice, there were absolutely no other flavors to give this sandwich dimension. The bread, which was advertised as authentic French bread from John Gendusa Bakey in New Orleans, was pretty stale, begging the question - why are they shipping bread all the way from Louisiana if it's not going to taste good when it gets here?? According to our resident po'boy expert, Shannon, who came into the office all the way from Connecticut for this sandwich, the bread actually wasn't too far from what po'boy bread should be like, but it still managed to miss the mark. "A po'boy is really just shrimp on bread, maybe dressed up a little with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I can make a five star po'boy, this is not a five star po'boy.," she so rightfully proclaimed. Even still, Shannon's critique paled in comparison to the absolute roast this sandwich received from Sarah M, who couldn't even finish the sandwich and gave it a whopping zero. To put is simply, "this sandwich sucked." It tastes too much like hot sauce, the bread isn't worth a cheat day (sorry Saliym), and the beignets were more like discarded Dunkin' Donut's donut holes. If you really want a cheeky sandwich, just get their fried chicken instead.