Gut Bombs New Orleans Style At Cheeky Sandwiches

When I first heard that Cheeky Sandwiches was opening on Orchard St. (btw. Hester & Canal), I got pretty excited because there are few places serving food from New Orleans at all in the city, let alone po’ boys and other sandwiches. When I took over as head downtown lunch’er, it immediately went on my short list to check out. Well, I have done some quality control assessments and careful research. Hot, hot sandwich porn after the jump.

The tiny shop has been open for breakfast and lunch since mid-December, and since they make everything to order, it’s not exactly a fast food situation. There is a counter and stools for eating in, although the guy manning the counter and handling sandwich making said they do get really busy for lunch.

Sandwich choices are pretty simple and include a shrimp or oyster (or half and half) po’ boy, fried chicken biscuit, beef short rib or seared pork chop on challa and a couple of veggie options. The non-meat options include a veggie muffalata, which Zach tells me is just plain wrong as it’s supposed to include a mountain of cold cuts. They also have Zapp’s chips and Big-Shot sodas, straight from New Orleans.

I tried the chicken biscuit, while my co-lunch’er went for a half and half po’ boy. When I asked what on the menu was authentic New Orleans, I was told that the po’ boys, chips, soda and coffee were, while most of the rest of the menu was “kind of made up.”

My first impression of the chicken biscuit was that it was small for the $6.50 I paid for it. It consisted of a freshly-fried piece of chicken, KFC original recipe style, with coleslaw and something called “gravy.”

As you can see, the sandwich and my dainty, ladylike hand are about the same size. After eating it I discovered why the sandwich wasn’t any larger because that is one small gut bomb. Fried chicken, cream gravy, coleslaw and biscuit together probably pack three days worth of fat intake, but it was delicious.

I sampled the po’boy and it was quality, although I cannot say if it was authentic or not. The $8.50 price may seem high, but there was a pile of fried oysters and shrimp on the thing as well as the shredded lettuce, tomato, mayo, pickles and hot sauce that make up the “dressed” part of the sandwich.

I can also report that the Zapp’s are pretty tasty, and if you get that and a sandwich, you’ll have an adequate $10 or under lunch.

But wait, there’s more! You didn’t think I’d leave without getting some beignets, did you? They’re a loose interpretation of the real thing, and resemble freshly-fried doughnut holes. They come four to an order for $1 and makes the perfect end to a grease-filled meal.

The shop itself is bare-bones and a nice change from the chain-like interior of many places downtown. It’s like having lunch in a shack down by the bayou, which was probably by some carefully crafted design.

THE + (What somebody who likes this place would say)

  • They try to bring a little bit of New Orleans to New York
  • Everything is made to order, and I get to see them doing it.
  • They make a decent po’ boy in a city sorely lacking them.
  • Fried chicken, cream gravy, coleslaw AND a biscuit!

THE — (What somebody who doesn’t like this place would say)

  • You’re out of your mind if you think I’m paying $6.50 for a tiny sandwich.
  • They make everything to order and it takes forever.
  • I don’t like New Orleans or their crappy sandwiches.
  • No meat in a muffalata is wrong on so many levels.

Cheeky Sandwiches, 35 Orchard St. (btw. Hester & Canal)

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14 Comments

  • Are you joking!?! Po’boys? $1 for 4 beignets?!? Wow… this could be the most jealousy inducing Downtown Lunch of all time

  • I’d love to see their version of a muffaletta. Every version I have had in NY has been a total joke…though the po-boy looks reasonable.

  • By the looks, the sandwiches don’t seem like gut bombs to me…

    The chicken & biscuit might not be what I’m after. Po’ boy looks good. And Good deal on the beignets!

  • I just checked the menu–VEGETARIAN muffaletta??? WTF!!!!! That really pisses me off (since they don’t have a real one on the menu).

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    I know the sandwiches look small, but most of them contain something either fatty, fried or both. I did not feel awesome after eating chicken biscuit, plus chips, plus beignets.

    • Oh neat, new post by a new contributor. Good job! Thankfully you also tried, like, more than one item on the menu :)

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    Actually, $8.50 for a oyster po-boy is way cheaper than you’ll get in New Orleans – just came back from there and they were all >$10 (though granted probably larger). So a pretty good deal.

  • I was a little disappointed about the oyster po’boy because it was strips of fried oyster than whole fried oysters which was what I was expecting. I guess for $8.50, I can’t really argue about it. The sandwich was a decent size though. Apparently they get their po’boy bread baked and flown in all the way from New Orleans. Now that’s authentic.

  • The beignets look more like zeppoles there.

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    If you want a good po’boy or fried oysters new orleans style you NEED to go to Great Jones Cafe on Great Jones and Bowery. That place is awesome and you can even grab a nice Abita beer straight from New Orleans. This place also has the best wings in the city… its like a wing soup. Wow, I am going there later.

  • You can get a good Mufellata at Fort Defiance in Red Hook. You can also get Abita all over town these days, too. I’ve seen it for sale in many a deli.

    I have yet to try this but the thing that’s so hard to get right is the bread. It needs to be baked in very humid conditions to get the right texture, which also makes it go stale really quickly. I’m not so sure what kind of condition it’s in after a 4 hour flight.

  • yum yum big fan of cheeky sandwiches..

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    Poyboy bread flown in …??? Impossible.

    Poyboy bread is only good for bread crumbs or bread pudding the next day. Well I guess a person could wrap it in plastic -a mortal sin in New Orleans- then have it flown overnight but then it’s still not the same.

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