The good news is that Porter & Luke’s, a delicious neighborhood restaurant on Metairie Road, is now serving brunch. The bad news is that it’s the least of what they do.
We went over the weekend to try the new menu. Sunday dining is hard to find, especially in the burbs like Metairie, so this extra day of dining was a very welcome development. The most exciting thing about the new brunch menu was the appetizers. This restaurant, reliable for its expertly done comfort foods and local dishes, is now serving flatbreads. Flatbreads? Yes, we know. Grilled chicken flatbread, muffaletta flatbread, and an Italian flatbread.
The egg dishes are minimal and not very imaginative. Wanting breakfast though, that was the order. A Cajun Omelette with andouille and shrimp, napped oddly with a red sauce, came to the table accompanied by the ubiquitous “hashbrowns.” Calling these small squares of fried potatoes hash browns is a frustrating misnomer experienced just about everywhere. How did this get started? And why did everyone embrace this breakfast travesty? Also on the plate was a perfectly fine but quite ordinary biscuit from the cut biscuit universe, served with a honey butter.
For fun we also got biscuits with country gravy, because those are never seen in these parts. This was surprisingly tastier than you’d expect from something whose sole description tends to be “white, and country.”
Eggs Orleans might have been a better choice. More of a Benedict with toasted ciabatta and Chisesi ham and asparagus, this had more going on. And we saw a basic eggs and bacon option go by with a grilled sausage that looked promising.
Regrettably, everything that went by looked better than our choice. At Porter & Luke’s, everything that goes by is something you want, but not because what you have is a mistake. We always love what is in front of us here, and also what goes to other tables. That’s because we love the food at Porter & Luke’s, whether it’s the ham shank and red beans, the fried chicken, the fried eggplant bowl of seafood stuffing over pasta with cream sauce, pasta and chicken in a cream sauce or meatballs and spaghetti. And of course, our favorite club sandwich ever. So even though this new brunch menu is disappointing, it means that Porter & Luke’s is now open on Sundays, giving us another day to eat this delicious comfort food.
Porter & Luke’s
Mon-Th 11-9
Fridays 11-10
Saturdays Noon-10
Sundays Noon-8
1517 Metairie Rd Metairie 70005
504-875-4555
porterandlukes.com
