ORAL HISTORY

Camille "Cam" Boudreaux

Killer Poboys

Camille “Cam” Boudreaux and his wife, April Bellow, cooked in the kitchens of fine dining restaurants for many years before opening Killer Poboys, a no-sign sandwich shop tucked in the back of the French Quarter’s Erin Rose bar. As New Orleanians, Cam and April didn’t think twice about what genre of sandwich to make. New Orleanians eat po-boys. But they do stretch the definition by making their po-boys with Vietnamese French bread loaves, rather than traditional New Orleans French bread, and also by customizing each sandwich’s garnish. In other words, Killer Poboys may be the only po-boy shop in New Orleans where you will never hear the question, “How do you want that dressed?” Their seared Gulf shrimp po-boy comes with a housemade dried shrimp mayonnaise and marinated vegetables; while the rum-and-cane-syrup-glazed pork belly comes with a lime-tinged cabbage slaw. While Killer Poboys’ menu is limited to just five regular sandwiches (and sometimes a special), Cam and April labor over every bite: they buy only Gulf seafood and meats raised without hormones or antibiotics. They also offer vegetarian and vegan sandwiches. Cam estimates that they’ve served 40,000 sandwiches out of their galley kitchen since 2014.

Audio production by Thomas Walsh.