For Friday’s lunch in New Orleans, dad, brother, and I visited famed eatery Port of Call.  This certified dive is known for having “New Orleans’ best burgers”, so we had to go see what all the hype was about.  I hear that the line for a table often spills out onto the sidewalk, but we were there shortly after their lunchtime open and were seated promptly.  The only things on the menu are drinks, half-pound burgers (served with baked potato, not fries), and steaks.  My dad and I had mushroom cheeseburgers, and Spencer went for the regular cheeseburger:

Mushroom Cheeseburger

I’ve gotta say, if this is New Orleans’ best burger, they’ve got a problem.

First, the service.  Our waitress took our drink orders quickly, but they took nearly 10 minutes to come out.  When we got our food, only my burger was made properly (and really, was still a little too pink for medium well).  My dad’s mushroom cheeseburger was without cheese and there was no butter for his baked potato.  Spencer’s cheeseburger came out as a mushroom burger, and his baked potato was covered in mushrooms (he only ordered bacon bits and chives).  I thought my baked potato had waaay too many bacon bits, and my dad commented that for the prices they charge, you would expect them to give you real bacon.  The waitress did quickly have the plates fixed, and we think she may have mixed up our orders with another table of hers; she had taken their orders immediately before.

As for the taste:

Spencer's First Bite

Spencer’s first bite captures all of our reactions.  He’s shrugging saying: what’s so special about this?  My dad’s photo was completly expressionless.  I thought the mushrooms were really good, but my dad was fairly certain they were canned (I’ve never had canned mushrooms to be able to corroborate).  The burger itself was nothing special, I think a good Five Guys burger easily has them beat.

I’m not sure if I missed something on my visit to Port of Call, but I would expect way more for a $12 burger, including maybe a choice of sides (no fries or onion rings at all).

www.portofcallneworleans.com