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.
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.
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.
Pass on the fries, which are really ordinary.
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