I visited the quirky sandwich shop that beat out fine-dining joints to be named the best new restaurant in America - here's what it's like

Kate Taylor

Turkey and the Wolf's bologna sandwich is enormous.

• Bon Appétit named the sandwich joint Turkey and the Wolf the best new restaurant in the US in 2017.
• The decision to elevate the quirky, low-budget concept over other restaurants created some controversy.
• Turkey and the Wolf is filled with '90s nostalgia, cheap cocktails, and an incredible fried bologna sandwich.

When Bon Appétit announced its list of America's best new restaurants for 2017, the No. 1 spot came as somewhat of a shock.

Instead of an elegant sit-down Italian restaurant or an upscale icon, the publication crowned Turkey and the Wolf - a sandwich joint in New Orleans where nothing costs more than $13 - the best new restaurant of the year.

"What they are offering - wildly inventive sandwiches, salads tossed with ingredients like pig's ear cracklin's, and cheeky snacks like homemade Bagel Bites - is as difficult to pull off as most tweezer-built dishes found at so-called serious restaurants," Andrew Knowlton wrote of the restaurant.

With such effusive praise for a restaurant famous for its fried bologna sandwiches, I knew I had to visit. So, on a recent trip to New Orleans, I decided to stop by Turkey and the Wolf to see if it lived up to the hype.