In a city famous for its po’boy spots and gumbo joints, there’s one chef who has ripped up the New Orleans cookbook and stuck it back together with a slice of whit and a heavy dollop of whimsy. Founder, owner and all-round cool cook Mason Hereford opened Turkey and the Wolf as a casual sandwich shop in 2016. His menu is littered with eccentric dishes like Double Decker Boom Town Freedom Tostada and features elevated ingredients including tarragon buttermilk and whipped feta. 

Since Turkey and the Wolf was voted the best new US restaurant of 2017 by Bon Appétit magazine, this lunchtime spot has become a magnet for anyone hankering for gourmet skills, South American flavors, and the easy hospitality of a gas station deli. 

British director Toby Amies traveled to New Orleans to follow Hereford on his weekly shopping rounds for locally sourced ingredients and American cheese... While riding shotgun across the city with the master chef, Amies learned that Hereford’s philosophy for sandwich-making isn’t all that heretical; a sandwich is anything you can wrap a fist around. 

But the secret sauce in Turkey and the Wolf’s slow-cooked lamb neck roti
 or triple-decker collard green melt is its entourage of capable, fun-loving cooks—many of whom, including Hereford himself, have spent time in some of the country's best kitchens. Together they whip up a home-style dining experience that conjures your favorite comfort foods and deconstructs them with wild abandon. “Recapturing a childhood memory is an effective way to convey what our food is,” says Hereford, “and what inspires it.”