Riverside Patty

It was 1977, and Nader Tahmasebi had to make a decision. Iran was suffering an economic downturn following the country’s oil boom of the 1970s, and political upheaval seemed imminent. Would he stay, or would he uproot his life to immigrate to the United States?

Tahmasebi worked as a technician at an oil company where he made good money, but he knew earning a degree stateside would increase his salary and provide a better life for his family. First stop: Texas, then on to Louisiana where he earned a mechanical engineering degree from Southern University. His plan had always been to head back to Iran and search for work after graduating; but by then the Iranian Revolution of 1978—79 was in full swing, and a safe return home proved impossible. 

Stranded nearly eight thousand miles from home, with a wife and a newborn in tow, Tahmasebi decided to become an American citizen. But the naturalization process took longer than anticipated, and he struggled to find employment in his field after graduation. 

So in 1982, in what used to be an old movie theater, he did what any enterprising American would do: he opened a burger joint. 

Riverside Patty, in downtown Baton Rouge, soon became a favorite of government employees and business people looking for a quick lunch at a reasonable price. It didn’t take Tahmasebi long to figure out the secret to any successful restaurant venture. “People fall in love when you give them good food,” he said. “If you’re not good, you can’t stay in business.”

And according to Alex V. Cook, author of Seat Yourself: The Best of South Louisiana’s Local Diners, Lunch Houses, and Roadside Stops, the food was indeed good. “When I worked downtown, we would order at 10 am so it would be ready by lunchtime,” he said. “Before Baton Rouge got upscale-hamburger crazy, Riverside was the best hamburger in town. In a lot of ways, it still is.”

For thirty years, Riverside Patty’s downtown location churned out half-pound homemade-style hamburgers cooked to order using freshly ground meat that Tahmasebi pounded out by hand every morning. And his mechanical engineering degree often came in handy; he did all the maintenance at the restaurant. 

“He had a good burger,” his daughter Hoda said. “It was just a good recipe, and the hamburger blew up from there.” 

So how did an Iranian with zero restaurant experience wind up running a burger joint in Baton Rouge? Hoda speculates it all boils down to kebabs. In Iran, she said, kebabs rule. “Beef on a grill. It makes sense when you think about it.”

Hoda grew up in the restaurant along with her three siblings, taking orders, ringing up customers, and flipping burgers. She didn’t realize the impact those years had until she dropped out of graduate school for culinary school. “I never thought that I would end up in the restaurant business,” she said.

Now a New Orleans-based chef, Hoda works for Chef John Besh at Borgne and occasionally at Shaya, recently named best new restaurant in the country by the James Beard Foundation. 

In 2001, Tahmasebi decided to open a second location, dubbed Riverside Patty Too, off of Siegen Lane in Baton Rouge. For more than a decade, both locations stayed swamped, pushing out 100 to 150 burgers per day during the 11 am to 2 pm lunch rush. 

In 2012, after thirty years in business, Riverside Patty’s downtown location shuttered its doors when Tahmasebi was given thirty days to vacate. Within the span of a month, Riverside Patty Too became the last remaining storefront. 

Even now, Tahmasebi knows customers by name, many of them regulars since the early days downtown. He attributes his belief in honest business and quality food to his many repeat customers and the almost cult-like following his bestselling burgers have among local aficionados. 

As for Riverside Patty’s future, Tahmasebi won’t be selling any time soon. He wants to keep the restaurant the same as it was when he opened it back in 1982. Perhaps, her father hopes, Hoda will one day take over the family business.