DomiliseDot & Patti Domilise

Domilise's Po-Boys
5240 Annunciation St.
New Orleans, LA
(504) 899-9126

Oh, [our menu has] been more or less the same, except at one time we didn’t sell meatballs. And one time we didn’t sell turkey. And more or less the same except—and barbecue; at one time we didn’t sell barbecue. So it was just a little ordinary menu. – Dot Domilise

 

People come from all over…we’ve had people from Australia, Japan, and all over come in here and say they came in here to get po-boys. Everybody that comes in says they came right from the airport and they were shuttled, I guess, right from the airport to Domilise’s. – Patti Domilise

The modern story of Domilise’s Po-Boys rests on two women who married into the business, Dot Domilise and her daughter-in-law Patti Domilise. Both women began working at the corner shop after having children, almost by accident; neither of them registered at the time what exactly they were getting into: long, hard days with French bread and frying seafood, but also the sustenance of a New Orleans institution without which the city wouldn’t be quite the same.

Two interviews, Dot Domilise and her daughter-in-law Patti Domilise, are featured on this page. Jump to Patti Domilise interview.

Listen to this 3-minute audio clip of Dot Domilise talking about the demise of the pepper wiener po-boy. [Windows Media Player required. Go here to download the player for free.] What follows is a portion of the original interview that has been edited for length. To download the entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

EDITED TRANSCRIPTS

DOT DOMILISE INTERVIEW

SUBJECT: Dot Domilise
LOCATION: Domilise’s Po-Boys, New Orleans, LA
DATE: July 28, 2006
INTERVIEWER: Sara Roahen, writer and SFA member

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Sara Roahen: This is Sara Roahen for the Southern Foodways Alliance. It’s July 28th 2006 and I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana at Domilise’s po-boy shop. So could you tell me your name?

Dot Domilise: My name is Dorothy Domilise.

I didn’t realize that was your full name. And if you you’re comfortable with it your date of birth?

Domilise Eight-sixteen-twenty-two.

And for the record, how do you make your living?

Making sandwiches. [Laughs]

Okay, why don’t you tell me where you were born and where you grew up.

I was born on Aragon Plantation in Thibodaux, Louisiana. And later in life moved to Franklin, Louisiana where I lived a greater part of my life—‘til I got married. And my husband came back from New Guinea; that’s when I lived here totally.

Your husband was in New Guinea?

Two years—in the Philippine Islands. He was in the service—World War II.

And what was your family life like? Did you have siblings?

Well I have now left living four sisters. I had four brothers that passed away in their 30s. They don’t know why—such a coincidence, and then my last sister was a twin but one twin died at three. And then my mother had some that passed away at birth, so we were a big family.

And so that was a lot of mouths to feed.

Yes, it sure was—with a woodstove and no gas or anything like that. And the refrigerator that—well, they didn’t call them refrigerators; they called them ice-boxes, where the ice-man delivered a block of ice to you every day or every other day or something like that to keep the food cold.

Wow, and who did—who did the cooking in your family?

My mother. I don’t know how she did it and washed on a washboard because there was no such thing as a washing machine.

And was she a good cook?

Oh a very good cook—very, very good cook and the water came from what they called a cistern—big round tall covered—where the rain would get into it and that would be the water to wash your clothes, bathe, drink—.

What did your father do for a living?

My father was a mechanic. And an engineer. Uh-hm; and a mechanic on these plantations. That’s why I was living there because he was working there and in charge of machinery and everything else—whatever they asked—changed wheels and—.

What’s an early food memory that you have from home?

Potato soup and rice. [Laughs] And baked macaroni and chicken stew—killed your own chickens and made the stew. Baked the macaroni or rice and vegetables that grew in the garden—

So tell me how you met your husband.

Well I had an uncle and aunt who lived on the next block.

Here uptown?

Uh-hm; and during the summer months I would come stay with the children while they worked and because the children would not be in school and they would be home, you know. And my husband lived here and—and in the middle of that block over here there’s a place they called the Buzzards Hall, you know the marching club? Well that was their place—before my time around here even. And they had bingo games there twice a week and my husband worked over there when they had the games and he would pass in front of my uncle’s house and that’s how I would first meet him.

What was your husband’s name?

His name was Samuel but they called him Sam.

And so did his family own this restaurant at that time?

Uh-hm. And people would get their phone calls here and whoever got a phone call, whenever they would answer it they would go call the person to the telephone, but other than that no children weren't allowed to even walk in here to get a drink or anything like that.

And how did it happen that you started working here?

Well my in-laws had it. And that’s how I got involved because they were both not well people, you know, and my mother-in-law had diabetes very, very bad—very bad. And I was taking care of her—living here, and she had to have insulin like three times a day, you know. You had—in those days—that’s when they first learned how to treat diabetes and you had to check their urine and blood three times before each meal, so it was three times a day that it was checked. And then my husband had a brother who was an invalid. He couldn’t do anything and I took care of him too.

It’s hard for me to imagine Domilise’s without you here. [Laughs]

[Laughs] Well I didn’t come out here ‘til after I had my first child. That’s when I came. Before then I was working you know—away—not in here. My mother-in-law and father-in-Domiliselaw did all that, and there was a lady that was a real good friend of theirs that did most of everything for them. That’s how close—they weren't relatives but real good friends. They just really took care of the place. My husband was not interested in this at all.

So this has always been your domain. And did you take to it right away? Did you like it?

I really—I don’t know. To me it was just, you know, another day and something you had to do—you did it. I got used to it.

And so last summer when you were named a Guardian of the Tradition. You know, that happened because you’re considered a really important part of the community. At what point did you realize that what you were doing was important to people?

Well I really—I really never looked at it that way. You know I just looked at it as working to make a living and something like that you know.

At one time when I talked to you—this is a couple years ago—I was telling you that I liked the pepper wiener po-boy, which sadly is extinct. And you told me that when you were younger, I think it was in the early days of your marriage or your courtship, that was your favorite.

It was my favorite; it was—I ate pepper wiener(s) every day—not a big one—on a piece of French bread. But what happened was Schott Meat Company in New Orleans—they were handling the pepper wiener and that’s who we were dealing with- they were getting them from a firm that was in Dubuque, Iowa, so when they—Shotz—closed, the firm in Dubuque still was sending me the pepper wiener…but then the company in Dubuque that was making them went out of business—sold the business to another company, a larger company, and that company said that it would not be feasible for them to make the pepper wiener, and ‘til this day I can't understand it. I just cannot understand how they could say that when—I mean you know so much of it was being sent to New Orleans to different wholesale companies that were bringing it to their—selling it to their customers.

Can you describe what a pepper wiener was?

It was shaped you know more—a little longer and more round—fuller than a regular wiener. The meat taste was not like a wiener taste at all and whatever little spice they used in it I have no idea; and it was really, really good. I mean people just were so disappointed when they could not get them anymore. And last year, a lady from South Carolina or someplace came here; she was a customer who moved away and would come back every so often and she was addicted to the pepper wiener. She saw these—in this other state and she came in here with a package like this under her arm and she said, “guess what I have? I have pepper wieners.” I said where did you get them from? So I used them and made sandwiches for the group and she looked at me after they began to eat and I was watching their expression to see how they would enjoy it and she looked at me and she went—. [Gestures]

She shook her head?

Yeah.

One thing that seemed distinctive about the pepper wiener was the red casing.

Yeah, it was a tough casing but we’d peel it off.

It was kind of a plastic casing.

No, no, no; it wasn’t plastic. [Emphasis Added] It was just a little tough casing just like an ordinary casing on any sausage but it was a little more tough than the others and you had to peel it. I don’t think you could bite through it.

So then your po-boy menu which I’m looking at right now—

The pepper wiener rests in peace.

Oh look at that; the pepper wiener rests in peace. That’s sad. Was the menu—did the menu always look like that or did it change over the years?

Oh it’s been more or less the same except at one time we didn’t sell meatballs. And one time we didn’t sell turkey. And more or less the same except—and barbecue; at one time we didn’t sell barbecue. So it was just a little ordinary menu.

What’s your most popular po-boy?

I have to say it’s between the shrimp, the oyster, and the roast beef. You’d have to pull a straw. [Laughs]

And tell me about who works here right now with you. You said that you have a grandson here?

He helps; he doesn’t work here totally all the time. He’s out of school right now. He’s been helping and his mom, my daughter-in-law who was married to my son that passed away, she’s—she’s with me and really she does a lot of the running the business for me. She handles most everything for me.

And the man who works behind the bar?

Oh Raymond? Oh he’s just a friend that lives on the next block and he worked on Tchoupitoulas Street at a toy place and they closed up and we needed someone to come in here, and so he used to come in here every, every, every evening from work after he would go home—come in here and sit here ‘til they closed up. And after this toy place closed, well then we needed someone so he—he was right here. And then he lived in the next block but now he lives on Nashville—not much further.

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To download this entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.

PATTI DOMILISE INTERVIEW

SUBJECT: Patti Domilise
LOCATION: Domilise’s Po-Boys, Annunciation St., New Orleans, LA
DATE: August 14, 2006
INTERVIEWER: Sara Roahen, writer and SFA member

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Sara Roahen: This is Sara Roahen for the Southern Foodways Alliance. It’s Monday, August 14th and I’m at Domilise’s po-boy shop in Uptown New Orleans. And could you tell me your name and your birth date and how you—?

Patti Domilise: Patti Domilise, 07/23/1952; I’ve worked at Domilise’s for the past 20 years.

All right, well let’s start with where did you grow up?

Domilise Tchoupitoulas Street.

Oh so right around the corner?

No, I was down further—way down by the bridge.

And did you come here as—as a person growing up?

I don’t really ever remember coming in here. My daddy used to come pick up sandwiches and we just stayed in the car.

And so for the record, you are Miss Dot’s daughter-in-law?

Yeah. My husband was Steve. He died four years ago.

And so when you started working here— did you have a sense for—did you have a sense for what this place means to the community and the neighborhood?

Now I do yeah—not when I started working here. I had no clue.

So it was a job?

It wasn’t even a job. I really wasn’t working. She’d just call me when somebody didn’t come in to come help and I lived right around the corner then. And then it got to be more and more and more and 20 years later I’m still here.

And what do you think about the position that this shop has in the community and the neighborhood?

It’s pretty cool; everybody knows it, I mean—people come from all over…we’ve had people from Australia, Japan, and all over come in here and say they came in here to get po-boys. Everybody that comes in says they came right from the airport and they were shuttled I guess right from the airport to Domilise’s; this is their first stop when they come into town. And it’s always—around the holidays they’re real, real busy—they’re coming back home.

When did you open up after the storm [Katrina]?

Right around Thanksgiving and the end of the month.

And was it busy right away?

The first day it was open. We had people when we were in here working and cleaning up Domiliseand all; we had people stop all day long wanted to know if we were open. I didn’t have electricity for two months and then we had to wait for—we had to wait for this refrigeration and all. That’s why we couldn’t open ‘cause we didn’t have any refrigeration. Everything that was in the refrigerators—the whole thing went straight to the dump. It was like dead bodies in there—the roasts and all—and they had been in there for like two months before anybody could get here to clean it up ‘cause they wouldn’t let anybody uptown for one thing.

Can you characterize your clientele?

I mean the locals are uptown people you know, but we have people from all over. I mean they call all day long for directions of how to get here from everywhere. I had one the other day that called from like Mississippi and wanted to know how to get here. Well just take the I-10 to New Orleans and call when you get to New Orleans and I’ll tell you how to get here. Tell me where you’re at and I’ll tell you how to get here, but they come from all over.

Can you tell me what your daily schedule is like?

I get here about 8:15 or so, and I go in and I put the money away from the day before…and then I come out here and I order the supplies, and then I bread all the shrimp—batter all the shrimp, fish, and get everything ready over in that corner. And then I slice the cheeses and the ham and the sausage, whatever I need for the day. And then cut the bread. Sweep up and it’s like 10 o’clock then, and then about 10:30 people start coming in.

Do you look forward to carrying on this tradition?

I’m looking forward to retiring. I’m not going to be here when I’m 84 years old. I’m going at 60 or 62 at the latest—if the place is still here by then. I don’t know.

Do you think that your son that works here now [Joshua] is interested?

I think he thought he was until he saw what was involved. He’s more of an artist. He drew those pictures and all back on the wall. He likes music and art. He’s just really here helping us out right now. I think he always thought that he might want to do this, but I don’t think now that he knows what’s involved.

To download this entire transcript in PDF form, please click here.