New Orleans has been home to mini-burgers, otherwise known as sliders for generations. Until a few years ago, the best place to find sliders in the city was either Tastee Donuts or Krystal. However, the gourmet slider trend of 2010 expanded the city’s offerings tenfold.

Photo by Jenny Sklar.

Today, a long list of local bars and restaurants serve gourmet sliders including Cure, Stanley, Zea, Phil’s Grill, Cochon Butcher, American Sector and Mondo, to name a few. Nosh—Yiddish for “snack”—is a downtown, casual restaurant with no pretension hiding behind their trendy food. Although owner Billy Weems opened Nosh in 2010 when sliders were all the rage in the foodie scene, Weems managed to make this food fad approachable to a wider audience.

General Manager Bryan Kyzar. Photo by Jenny Sklar.

Along with no-nonsense décor and friendly service, Nosh’s menu is straightforward. Each “mini burger-style sandwich” comes with lettuce, tomato, and a house-made mayo of your choosing, and comes with such proteins as beef, turkey, fish, BBQ pork, portobello, BLT, and buffalo.

Yes, buffalo. Also called bison, this meat is hard to come by in this city, especially with a price tag as low as $3.50. I was a little unsure about how I would like this delicacy, especially in burger form, but was pleasantly surprised by how similar it tasted to beef. These chewier, gamier mini-patties were mighty scrumptious with the garlicky mayonnaise, but I was a little confused as to why they would offer buffalo along with beef when they taste so similar, especially since I prefer the slightly more juicy beef, which is their bestseller.

A Nosh slider. Photo by Jenny Sklar.

It turns out that the meat from these massive animals isn’t bad for keeping your figure. The buffalo has a very low fat index, yielding a lean cut of meat to pound into these surprisingly healthy, tiny burgers. According to AmericanGourmet.net, buffalo has only 2.42 grams of fat versus beef’s 10.15 grams. Of course, when dressed, the slider becomes more decadent and less of a healthy snack or meal. If you’re more into a juicy, fatty burger you may want to stick with classic beef or pork, but this is definitely an exciting thing to try, especially in such an adorable, petite package.