Luke New Orleans: The Luke Burger and John Besh
Who really runs the St. Charles Avenue brasserie today, what goes on its $23 bacon burger, and how to plan a visit in the CBD.
Photo: Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 4.0
Luke New Orleans is a Creole-inspired brasserie at 333 St. Charles Ave., inside the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue in the Central Business District, open daily from 7am to 10pm. John Besh co-founded it in May 2007 and still co-owns it through BRG Hospitality. He stepped down from operations in October 2017, though, and the kitchen is now led by Executive Chef Corey Sharp. The signature Luke Burger, with Benton’s bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese, costs $23 with fries on the official menu I checked on October 21, 2026.
Where John Besh stands. Plenty of guides still call Luke “John Besh’s restaurant,” as if he were behind the stove. He isn’t. Besh co-founded Luke and co-owns the group that runs it, and the man cooking your burger works for Corey Sharp. Besh belongs in this story because Luke was his idea in 2007. Which chef runs the kitchen today is a separate question.
Luke New Orleans at a glance: address, hours and burger price
Luke sits on the ground floor of a CBD hotel, a short walk from the French Quarter, and serves breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner every day.
| Practical info | Details |
|---|---|
| Address | 333 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130 |
| Setting | Inside the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue, Central Business District |
| Hours | Daily, 7am–10pm |
| Services | Breakfast, lunch, brunch, dinner |
| Phone | (504) 378-2840 |
| Executive chef | Corey Sharp |
| Owner | BRG Hospitality |
| Signature burger | Luke Burger, $23 with fries (lunch, brunch and dinner menus) |
| Last checked | October 21, 2026 |
Sources: Luke, Our Story, Luke menus, OpenTable and Historic Hotels of America. Hours and prices change. Check the official site before you go.
Map of Luke New Orleans at 333 St. Charles Ave. (Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue) in the Central Business District. Canal Street and the edge of the French Quarter are about a 5-minute walk north. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
The Luke Burger: what’s on it and what it costs
The Luke Burger is a bacon cheeseburger with Benton’s bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese, served with french fries for $23.
That price comes from Luke’s own menu, which I read on October 21, 2026. You’ll find the burger on the lunch, brunch and dinner menus. Not at breakfast. Some delivery and ordering platforms show it at up to $25, so treat $23 as the dine-in price.
Benton’s bacon: the ingredient that defines the burger
The bacon is the burger’s calling card: it comes from Allan Benton’s smokehouse, Benton’s Smoky Mountain Country Hams in Madisonville, Tennessee.
Most hotel menus don’t say where their bacon comes from. Luke prints the supplier’s name, and that tells you what the kitchen wants you to notice first. Benton’s is smoked in a country-ham style, nothing like a supermarket rasher, and on this burger it’s the bacon you’re paying for.
Wood-burning stove and split logs inside Allan Benton’s smokehouse in Madisonville, Tennessee, where Benton’s bacon is slow-smoked before it reaches the Luke Burger (photo from 2007, not taken at Luke). (Photo: Smokymountaineer, Public domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allan\_Benton%27s\_Smokehouse.JPG)
What the burger was like in 2012, and what we can’t confirm today
A 2012 review gives the only detailed description of the patty: thick, juicy, cooked medium, with Allan Benton bacon, Emmentaler Swiss and caramelized onions over skinny, crispy fries.
The local reviewer at Sapalate called it “the best burger I’ve had in town” in a March 6, 2012 post. That’s history, not a current spec. Today’s menu just says “swiss cheese,” not Emmentaler. Luke doesn’t publish the patty weight, beef blend, grind, bun or cooking method, and I won’t guess. Ask your server if those details matter to you.
Is the Luke Burger worth ordering?
Order it for the bacon, not for the beef: the menu tells you exactly where the bacon comes from and nothing at all about the patty.
That’s my reading of the menu. I haven’t scored a visit, so there’s no rating here. At $23 you’re paying brasserie prices for a burger whose beef is undocumented, and I’d want to know more before calling it a bargain. Still, it has local backing beyond that 2012 post: Where Y’at puts Luke on its National Burger Day list of New Orleans burgers. And if you’re staying in the CBD and want a sit-down burger from lunch through dinner, it’s an easy choice.
From Franco-German to Creole brasserie: how Luke’s menu changed
Luke opened in 2007 as a tribute to the Franco-German brasseries that once stood in New Orleans, then reinvented itself in 2017 as a Creole-inspired brasserie.
Brasserie lunch at Luke New Orleans in November 2025: a roasted marrow bone topped with snails in a dark sauce, with grilled bread, a bowl of soup and Tabasco on the table. (Photo: Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luke\_restaurant,\_New\_Orleans\_25\_November\_2025\_-\_1.jpg)
The original menu leaned on the Old World cooking of that brasserie tradition. In 2017 the restaurant, in its own words, “reimagined itself” around Creole flavors. The raw bar of Gulf oysters and seafood survived the change. So is Luke German, French or Creole? All three, in that order, with Creole leading today.
Shrimp and grits at Luke New Orleans: Gulf shrimp, sausage and tomato in a Creole sauce over grits in a cast-iron skillet, served on a LUKE plate in November 2025. It shows the Creole side of the brasserie. (Photo: Jeremy Thompson, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Luke\_restaurant,\_New\_Orleans\_25\_November\_2025\_-\_2.jpg)
Luke New Orleans and John Besh timeline: May 2007, Luke opens as a Franco-German brasserie | 2010, Lüke San Antonio opens (since closed) | Oct. 23, 2017, Besh steps down and the group becomes BRG Hospitality | 2017, Luke reinvents itself as a Creole-inspired brasserie | Sept. 2025, Delacroix opens at Spanish Plaza | Jan. 22, 2026, Besh and Octavio Mantilla named 2026 Restaurateur of the Year. (Table: Burger Breton, original compilation (no third-party license), sources: lukeneworleans.com/our-story, nrn.com, nbcnews.com, bizneworleans.com, myneworleans.com)
Lüke San Antonio: the group’s first restaurant outside Louisiana
In 2010 the group opened Lüke San Antonio, its first restaurant outside Louisiana; that location has since closed.
Chef Steve McHugh opened the San Antonio restaurant and left in 2012 to open his own place, Cured, according to Nation’s Restaurant News and the San Antonio Current. Only the New Orleans original is still serving.
Who is John Besh? Co-founder of Luke, no longer in the kitchen
John Besh is a Louisiana chef who co-founded Luke and co-owns BRG Hospitality, but he has not run the group’s operations since October 2017.
Besh was born on May 14, 1968, in Meridian, Mississippi, and raised in Slidell, Louisiana. He served in the US Marines during the Gulf War and graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in 1992. Food & Wine named him a Best New Chef in 1999, and he won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: South in 2006 (Wikipedia).
Why John Besh stepped down in 2017
On October 23, 2017, Besh stepped down from all operations of Besh Restaurant Group, two days after a NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune investigation reported allegations of a culture of sexual harassment.
The investigation reported allegations from 25 current and former employees. After Besh stepped down, Shannon White became CEO and the company was renamed BRG Hospitality. Sources: NBC News, CNN.
John Besh’s role today
Today Besh is a co-owner of BRG Hospitality and a co-founder of its newest restaurant, Delacroix; no primary source I found describes a hands-on role in Luke’s kitchen.
Delacroix opened at the end of September 2025 at Spanish Plaza on the Mississippi riverfront, with chef Wiley Lewis (Biz New Orleans, Axios New Orleans). On January 22, 2026, the Louisiana Travel Association gave Besh and Octavio Mantilla its 2026 Restaurateur of the Year Louey Award (New Orleans Magazine).
John Besh restaurants: the BRG Hospitality portfolio
BRG Hospitality’s portfolio, as cited with the 2026 award, includes nine New Orleans-area restaurants serving about 800,000 guests a year.
- Restaurant August
- Delacroix
- Domenica
- Eunice
- Luke
- Pizza Domenica
- Shaya
- Tavi
- Willa Jean
Corey Sharp: the executive chef running Luke today
Corey Sharp is Luke’s current executive chef, as named on the restaurant’s official site and its OpenTable listing.
I couldn’t confirm when Sharp took over, or who led the kitchen when Luke opened in 2007. Both are left out rather than guessed.
Best burger near St. Charles Avenue: where Luke fits in New Orleans
Luke is a sit-down bacon-burger option in the CBD: a hotel brasserie on St. Charles Avenue, steps from the French Quarter, serving its burger from lunch until 10pm.
Hotel guests and anyone walking between the Quarter and the CBD will find it handy. New Orleans burger culture lives mostly in bars and neighborhood joints, though, so start with our New Orleans burger page for that side of the city, or browse every city we cover in the Burger Breton restaurants section.
Luke New Orleans FAQ
Who owns Luke restaurant in New Orleans? Luke is owned by BRG Hospitality, the group John Besh co-founded and still co-owns. It was called Besh Restaurant Group until it was renamed in 2017.
Is John Besh still involved with his restaurants? Besh remains a co-owner of BRG Hospitality and co-founded Delacroix, which opened in September 2025. He stepped down from the group’s operations on October 23, 2017.
What is on the Luke Burger and how much does it cost? The Luke Burger has Benton’s bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese, served with french fries. It costs $23 on the official menu (checked October 21, 2026).
Is Luke in New Orleans still open, and what are its hours? Yes. Luke is open daily from 7am to 10pm for breakfast, lunch, brunch and dinner. Call (504) 378-2840 or check the official site before you go.
What kind of food does Luke serve: German, French or Creole? Luke opened in 2007 as a Franco-German brasserie serving Old World cuisine. Since 2017 it has been a Creole-inspired brasserie, with a raw bar of Gulf oysters and seafood.
Where is Luke located, and is it near the French Quarter? Luke is at 333 St. Charles Ave., inside the Hilton New Orleans St. Charles Avenue in the Central Business District. The French Quarter is a short walk away.
Does Luke serve the burger at breakfast, lunch and dinner? The Luke Burger is on the lunch, brunch and dinner menus. It is not listed on the breakfast menu.
Which other restaurants belong to John Besh / BRG Hospitality? Restaurant August, Delacroix, Domenica, Eunice, Pizza Domenica, Shaya, Tavi and Willa Jean, alongside Luke.
How this profile was built: I checked Luke’s official site, its menus and its OpenTable listing on October 21, 2026, and cross-checked the history against the press coverage linked above. I have not yet eaten the burger for a scored review, so the page carries no rating. Prices come from the official menu, not delivery apps, and no third-party ratings are used.
