Wednesday, September 12, 2012.
Looking For Neighborhood Places.
I was in the mood for a blue-plate special or a poor boy somewhere, and headed out to Metairie, where there is a lot of research to be done. My first idea was to try Café Ralphie on West Esplanade, following on a report from a listener that they have begun serving dinner there. If that's true, they weren't doing it tonight. My second idea was the World Deli, but I don't think they're open at night, either. 
Before I had a chance to check that, my eyes were grabbed by a glowing establishment near the intersection of West Esplanade and Clearview. I wasn't even sure it was a restaurant at first, but when my eyes finally focused on the neon signs, I saw that it was the much-discussed Cheeseburger Eddie's.
Eddie is Ed McIntyre, the owner of the two very good Mr. Ed's neighborhood restaurants and the even better Austin's. During the boom in ambitious better-burger restaurants (that's what the industry calls this booming category), he must have figured that he had to be there.
Cheeseburger Eddie's is a good-looking place as burger shops go. The tables are ample and comfortable, and the walls are covered with faux signs advertising ancient and venerated local products.
I have heard mostly good reviews about the hamburgers, although not from my in-house hamburger experts the Marys, who were unimpressed. The hamburger is about a half-pound job. The shape is so perfect that I suspect they may not be hand-made--although I have been fooled by that before. On the positive side, they grill the ground beef to order, and the my medium-rare specification was delivered accurately. The bun and the dressings were ordinary.
I am somewhat more certain that the fries, while nice and hot and greaseless, were not the fresh-cut kind that has so much improved the burger-and-fries scene in the past few years.
Although hamburgers are clearly the mainstay, the menu offers lots of other things--a good number of them with a Mexican twist. Tacos, for example, and tamales. The young lady at the counter thought I'd like the tamales, and when she added that the order was for two of them I went along. Not bad--the two sauces and the garnishes were more interesting than what we usually get. But they didn't taste like tamales to me.
What with all the classy hamburgers out there, and my ever-decreasing quota of burgers, I don't think Cheeseburger Eddies will make it into my rotation. It is, however, better than anything the national chains--even the dinnerhouse chains--throw out there.
Cheeseburger Eddie's. Metairie: 4517 W Esplanade Ave. 504-455-5511.
