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Restaurant Ratings

The ratings are based mostly on the degree to which the food excites us, and a little on environment, service, and other considerations. I rate restaurants relative to all other restaurants in the New Orleans area. Here's what the stars mean to me:

starstarstarstarstar
Among the best locally.

starstarstarstar
Excellent and ambitious.

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Worth crossing town for.

starstar
Recommended.

*
Acceptable.

No star
Unacceptable.

Cost Ratings
Each dollar sign indicates a ten-dollar range, including a normal meal for the restaurant (dinner, if they serve other meals), not including drinks, or tips. So, for example. . .

1$--$5-15
2$--$15-25
3$--$25-35

. . . and so on, with no upper limit. While this scheme may suggest mathematical precision, know that perception of price varies from diner to diner as much as the star ratings do. So consider this an estimate.

All reviews are based entirely on meals I have personally taken at the restaurant and paid for from my own pocket. I don't take free review meals, nor am I reimbursed by anybody for my restaurant expenditures.

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Lee’s Hamburgers

Hamburgers.
Metairie: 904 Veterans Blvd.. 504-836-6804.
Metairie: 4301 Veterans Blvd., 504-885-0110.
Slidell: 1042 Front St, 985-641-6895.
Covington: 104 Lake Dr , 985-898-3440.
All: Lunch and dinner continuously seven days.
Very Casual
AE MC V

WHY IT'S NOTEWORTHY
A modern revival of an ancient New Orleans institution, the current Lee's captures a bit--but not all--of the flavor that made the place famous. That hinged on the grilling of the ground meat patties with the chopped onions already in the mix. The reason it's not quite the same is that the current Lee's takes a page from the fast-food burger stands of today (the old Lee's was anything but fast) by cooking its burgers on a grill that's not hot enough to caramelize the onions. The slightly burned onions were what created the old Lee's excitement. Still, it's a better burger than most.

WHY IT'S GOOD
The meat is fresh, the hamburgers come right off the grill, and the buns are warmed beforehand. Could be better, but it could be much, much worse.

BACKSTORY
Lee's goes back to the hamburger's earliest days, before World War I. Lee Hash's original stand was downtown, near the Orpheum Theater. Most people who remember the original recall its second location on Tulane Avenue near the Criminal Courts Building. After that closed down, the family more or less retired to Slidell, where they kept an outpost of Lee's going in a location you had to really look for. In the early 1980s, some entrepreneurs took a franchise on the name and began opening the new version of Lee's here and there throughout the city.

DINING ROOM
The look varies from place to place, but all of the Lee's are utilitarian eateries with walls decorated with old New Orleans relics, with memories of 1950s rock and roll. They're not as antiseptic as the typical fast food chain, but not as rough and grubby as Bud's Broiler.

ESSENTIAL DISHES
Hamburger.

FOR BEST RESULTS
Pass on the fries, which are really ordinary.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
The old Lee's taste could be restored with a hotter grill that could put a crust on the burger. But that's trickier to cook than the way they do it now, requiring more skill on the part of the cooks.

FACTORS OTHER THAN FOOD
Up to three points, positive or negative, for these characteristics. Absence of points denotes average performance in the matter.

SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES

This review was updated with new information on 10/26/2009.