The New Orleans Chronicles: Port Of Call

There is a small restaurant on the outskirts of the French quarter in New Orleans that the locals know about.  No, it’s not on Bourbon Street, and no, it is not a wild party restaurant.  It does have the reputation, however, for serving up some mean burgers.  I had to check this out.

My entourage and I landed at the restaurant and immediately got some non-stellar service from our host/waiter who seemed perturbed that such a large group had entered his establishment right as his shift was about to end.  Regardless, after the restaurant seated a couple of groups who came in after us, they led us to a back seating area right next to the kitchen.  We cracked the menus open and found a very limited array of foods.  There were burgers, steaks, and…ummm…yeah…burgers and steaks.  There was also beer and a selection of tropical drinks, as well as an “ala carte” section that featured an iceberg lettuce salad, a baked potato, or marinated mushrooms, all which were ingredients that would normally be found on the burgers.  So far, I was not impressed.

I looked at the beer selection, and it was all cheap domestics and Abita (the local brew).  I had been drinking lots of Abita so I thought that I would have the one beer that they had on tap.  Budweiser.  I was just hoping the tap would give it more flavor.  The response was this:  “We lost the tap in Katrina.”  This was followed by a bottle of Budweiser being brought to the table.  All class.

Everybody ordered their variations of hamburgers, and we waited for the food to arrive.  While we waited, some people had gotten fruity drinks called Windjammers.  I had a taste, and it was your standard Chinese restaurant fare in a big plastic souvenir cup, basically rum and fruit juice.  It was good.  Then came the burgers, and man, I could see why people would talk about this place.  These were freshly ground half-pound burgers cooked just as requested and LOADED with the toppings you chose.  The cheddar cheese was orange, shredded, and piled high, and the mushrooms were marinated and salty.  I get my burgers cooked medium, and low and behold, that burger was perfect and juicy.  Next to each burger was a pile of burger veggies, such as lettuce, tomato and onion, and the onion slice was a half an inch thick!  That is no exaggeration.  Each burger also came with a foil wrapped baked potato of gigantic proportion, and beware if you asked for the sour cream on top, because they didn’t skimp.  I spoke with one of the waitresses as she was walking by, she said that there always seemed to be an abundance of sour cream in the kitchen, so I guess you’ve got to use what you have.

One final pain about this restaurant came at the end, as they do not and will not offer separate checks.  All in all, the restaurant was lousy, with rude waiters, a dirty feel, a broken tap, a limited menu, and dingy decor, not to mention that they should get an award for the nastiest bathroom in New Orleans.  However, if you are looking for an amazing burger, you’ve got to try this one.  You won’t regret it.