For National Hamburger Day, try one of these three old Fort Worth favorites
On National Hamburger Day May 28, what better place to enjoy one than Cowtown?
Fast-food drive-thrus and chain restaurants are offering all kinds of freebies and deals, from Wendy’s 1-cent burger to the Austin-based Hopdoddy chain’s $15 burger-and-fries combo including a margarita.
But in Cowtown, there’s no reason to eat chain burgers.
Yes. we have newer favorites like JD’s Hamburgers, Rodeo Goat, Fuego Burger and Tommy’s.
But our burger cravings began at a west side grocery.
Kincaid’s Hamburgers, a 60-year tradition at 4901 Camp Bowie Blvd. and four suburban locations, was named “Best Burger in America” in the 1960s and 1980s and was the topic of a book, “The Perfect Hamburger.”
Long before chefs made veggie “burgers” or added brie or truffles, the late Kincaid’s Grocery butcher O.R. Gentry was simply grinding fresh beef trimmings and making thick, hand-packed hamburgers the old Texas homestyle way — with lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard and optional American cheese.
The rows of grocery shelves have given way to dining areas. But the store doesn’t look terribly different from the 1970s.
The toppings are the same. The tomatoes are juicy. (Tip: Ask for the bun to be toasted on the griddle.)
Dutch’s Hamburgers
Dutch’s Hamburgers wraps itself in so much TCU football history and lore that you forget it only opened in 2007.
The name is a tribute to late TCU coach Dutch Meyer, a national Hall of Famer known for telling teams to “fight ‘em till hell freezes over, then fight ‘em on the ice.”
Co-founder Louis Lambert’s father, Hal, played for Meyer’s Frogs. So Lambert made the burger grill feel like something out of the 1950s, although the burgers are definitely a newer style.
Dutch’s, 3009 S. University Drive, won the former Star-Telegram,com “Burger Battle” with newer burgers like the bacon-blue cheeseburger with chipotle mayo or the “vaquero” bacon-cheddar burger with fried onion and jalapeno strings.
The basic burger is a classic: fresh beef with shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mustard and mayo, with a choice of seven cheeses on a Hawaiian-style sweet-sourdough bun.
Dutch’s is open for lunch and dinner daily; 817-927-5522, dutchshamburgers.com.
Fred’s Texas Cafe
First, of all, don’t ask for Fred.
If you go to either Fred’s Texas Cafe, at 7101 Camp Bowie Blvd. West or 2730 Western Center Blvd., and ask for Fred, the server will sorrowfully bow his or her head and say, “I’m sorry, but Fred has passed on.”
The cafe has long outlived the family dog. Founders Gari and J.D. Chandler turned it over to son Terry in 1990, and what had been a ramshackle cafe since 1950 turned into — well, a ramshackle cafe with big burgers.
Fred’s has since changed owners and moved to outlying locations but still has spicy “diablo” and poblano burgers along with the restaurant’s signature “Fred Burger.”
Terry Chandler once described Fred’s as a “blue-collar greasy spoon with a lot of white-collar infiltrators.”
