Company Burger

Nobody comes to New Orleans for the purpose of eating hamburgers, but if you crave one while in town, The Company Burger is a good bet. There are now just two locations (the second at 611 O’Keefe Ave.), but the menu and mise-en-scene seem ready-made for expansion. Indeed, if you eat a lot of burgers in cities around the country, the experience of being here will be familiar. In the last several years, comparable places have appeared in on-the-move neighborhoods coast to coast. The formula is a good one: quality hamburgers in the under $10 range, artisan French fries and other interesting sides, seriously thick milk shakes, and a long list of draught and canned beers. This being New Orleans, there are specialty cocktails as well.

Place your order at the counter and pay, then carry a numbered placard to a table in the bright, open dining room. Burgers arrive garnished with bread and butter pickles and red onion, and it is well worth paying a visit to the mayo bar, if only to appreciate the options, which include mayonnaise dolled up with chipotle peppers, Creole honey mustard, basil, or garlic, as well as house-pickled jalapeno peppers.

The standard hamburger configuration is a pair in a bun with American cheese (although singles are available). Degree of doneness is not a variable. They are cooked through (no pink) but fatty enough that they remain succulent. This is not prime beef, so it benefits from a boost. In addition to the welcome abundance of cheese, extra-cost options include bacon and a fried egg. Plus those interesting mayos.

While the hamburger may not induce rapture, the Company hot dog will make tube steak aficionados grin ear to ear. It is a smoked beef & pork Nueske’s sausage, taut-skinned and quite literally bursting with flavor, served with relish and onion in a butter-grilled, split-top bun: a beautiful and delicious package.

We were skeptical when the girl who took our order recommended a turkey burger as one of the menu’s best items. Skepticism was justified, for this is a barren burger impersonator with none of beef’s juice and mineral pizzazz, unredeemed by the green goddess dressing and tomato jam that adorn it.

Excellent side dishes include twice-fried potatoes, onion rings with a unique sweetness because they are made with red onions, sweet potato waffle fries, tater tots, and crispy pork rinds. Milk shakes and malts are ridiculously thick, nearly impossible to suck up a straw.