Food Review: Gulf Coast Po' Boys

With big chunks of seasoned and golden fried shrimp bursting out of its pillowy French bread that housed the fried shrimp— the po’ boy at Gulf Coast is almost as aesthetically pleasing as it is tasty. 

But before I bite into this sandwich there’s something to be said about hole in the wall restaurants.

It’s always enlightening when proven immensely wrong, especially when it comes to food.  In a culture of rampant advertisement and competition, we as consumers, are forced to make a lot of pre-judgments.

Choosing where to eat is no exception.

And who could blame us?  Those beef patties and boiled peanuts that look like near historical artifacts at the local gas station could taste heavenly. But many wouldn’t know because the idea of heat-lamped food at a gas station is a little….unnerving.

Pre-judging where we eat is an understandable self-safety measure of sorts. On the down side, it can also be a hindrance when it comes to reveling some unexpected great cuisine. 

Case in point, Gulf Coast Po’ Boys. A tiny restaurant nestled inconspicuously in an old Largo shopping center.

It’s shallow and aesthetically unflattering.

One way to describe it, is it’s somewhere along the lines of a big po’ boy with bits of suspiciously tiny, deep-fried shrimp that’s slathered in mayo with a few limp tomatoes and shredded lettuce thrown in for good measure. 

I still would’ve accepted the mediocrity and devoured it like any money-strapped early 20’s male would, but probably forget about it soon after. 

Passable mediocrity if you will. This is only at a glance and where our pre-judgment of inconspicuous dives should end.

The reality is that Gulf Coast Po’ Boys makes a big, fresh, succulent po’ boy that would likely make any connoisseur of this bayou-bred sandwich quite pleased.

Plain mayonnaise is replaced with a tangy, secret-recipe roumalade that adds a nice dimension of spice and originality to an otherwise by-the-book genre of sandwich.

This thing is really a work of culinary art.  Each bite is an exposure to a different combination of fresh flavor and textures.  No element of this sandwich comes close to being superfluous or unnecessary.  The freshness of each ingredient— especially the Cajun-spiced crispy-breaded shrimp— makes the Gulf Coast po’ boy shine. 

For a side dish, red beans and rice— another Louisiana staple— felt like the most fitting choice.  Instead of chopped raw onions, Gulf Coast tops their generous helping of beans and rice with a tomato relish easily passable just by itself.  The beans were soft. They had just enough spice to keep them un-bland and plentiful enough to be a side for two.

Overall, Gulf Coast Po’ Boys is quite the commendable establishment. 

Judging from the meal, they take great pride and a sense of careful meticulousness in the cuisine they craft.  The size and easily miss able placement of the restaurant, whether advertently or not, elicits a sense of modesty when it comes to the food they prepare.  In an increasingly image driven world of independently owned restaurants, this is admirable.  The po’ boy speaks for itself at Gulf Coast and admittedly, it’s quite the raconteur.

Gulf Coast Po’ Boys is located at 312 West Bay Dr. in Largo.