You can walk down a few block street of Oak Street in New Orleans and find almost any type of cuisine your little heart desires. But if you pass by Tru Burger, you’re missing a great experience.
With fresh ground in house quality beef, a choice of meat or veggie patties plus occasional special offerings and Zweigle Beef Hot Dogs, Tru Burger has a lot going for it in a city (now) rich in quality burger offerings. Until this raft of new burger places openings, locals favored a pitiful outlet on the east border of the Quarter, whose real claim to fame was serving an oversized baked potato (WTF?) with their burgers. Never impressive, IMHO.
I went to Tru in search of a Zweigle, as I have had them at the source. (They are from Rochester, New York). I lived with a vegetarian woman in Paris, and we visited her home town in upstate New York, and she insisted on having mom get and prepare the local favorite Zweigle White Hot, a white hot dog in a natural casing. They were also available at a local joint where I lived in Portland, Oregon, and Zweigles makes a high quality dog.
Alas, the only dog option at Tru Burger was a skinless, and I’m a natural casing snob, so I ordered a burger. It took awhile to cook, but that’s OK. Burgers are served with “Tru Sauce”, pickles and raw onion.
When I am trying a new place (to me), I go with “as plain as possible” to get a true feeling for the individual ingredients. At Tru, you can add American, Swiss or Cheddar for 50 cents (I wish pimento cheese, a local favorite, was an option), as well as other condiments. The pickles are bread and butter, and I’m not really a fan, (preferring dill), but I know folks in the south like B&B pickles for the sweet factor.
Additional options include a fried egg, sausage patty, bacon, avocado and chili. Rest of the menu is over here ….. not there, here.
Tru is one of several places in New Orleans buying burger meat from Creekstone Farms, a Kansas beef purveyor, who I think now makes the finest burger meat in all the land.
New Orleans has a number of great burger places now, and Tru deserves a spot on that list. If you’re a visitor to the Crescent City, take the St Charles street car from the Quarter to Oak Street, and walk a few steps towards the river to hit the Tru. Check out their menu here.
Tru Burger Review