Friday, October 25, 2024 — First things first: I have to give brand-new Houston food truck Juicy Joint’s social media coordinator props. The only reason I even knew to try their hot-off-the-presses meat concoctions was that in the past few weeks, my Instagram and Facebook have been bombarded with hype videos announcing Juicy Joint’s opening. As launch parties aren’t my thing, I knew I needed to wait at least a week until the initial excitement died down (according to their IG stories, there were an extraordinary number of people lined up waiting to try their burgers on opening night—I LOVE hamburgers, but I detest waiting in lines of any kind for anything, and given the plethora of incredible options available in Houston I will never wait on a line for a burger), but they promoted an appearance by Paul Wall, free food, 50% off all weekend, and a contest to win free Juicy Joint food for a year. Those are some pretty solid tactics to get the burger-loving public’s attention.
Juicy Joint’s claim to fame is that they are apparently the first ever burger spot in Houston to offer halal wagyu burgers. I’ve had plenty of halal, and plenty of wagyu, but I guess none of the spots I’ve been to have combined the two previously.
They’ve also elected to set up shop in a ridiculously competitive location for burgers, the Galleria Food Truck Park on Chimney Rock and Val Verde, which already features fellow purveyor of halal burgers Crypto Burger (which I sampled last February) as well as Bun Slut; not to mention highly-rated vegan-focused (though not exclusively so) Burganic Hub (4.5 on Yelp) in the retail center next door. PLUS there’s a Whataburger directly across the street. Not to mention just-anointed Top 100 Restaurant in Houston (and my personal #1) burger-chan, Clutch City Grill (very possibly my current #2), and Bubba’s (my #3 in 2023) are each within a 5-minute drive of Juicy Joint.
Right out of the gate I was pleased to see that they offered both “regular”-sized patties and smashburgers. Longtime readers will recall that my preference is for monster-sized patties — though I’ve got plenty of love for the smash, especially when you consider burger-chan is my favorite spot in the city (though I also contend that burger-chan isn’t necessarily what I would consider a “true” smash, as their patties are quite a bit thicker than many other smash examples).
I ordered the Jalapeño Groove Sizzler, which comes on a golden potato bun with 2 buttery wagyu smash patties (I added a third because two smashes never seem to fill me), American cheese, Juicy Joint’s signature sauce, crisp jalapeños, and shredded lettuce.
The meat is absolutely the star of the show—juicy as advertised, delicate, and resplendently umami. The signature sauce was a tasty, and I really enjoyed the jalapeños—but I would’ve liked a lot more of them! Not sure if they are planning a French fry program, but at the moment they’re an afterthought — nicely seasoned, but none of the loaded options that have become de rigeur at many local hamburger spots.
My only other nit is the relative lack of variety. While offering the two different types of patties is a refreshing change of pace, there are only two burger types within each category—Walk it Out Classic and Jalapeño Groove Sizzler in the smash tier, and Mushroom Groove Deluxe and Walkin’ on Sunshine representing the regular-sized options. And aside from adding a patty (which I was only able to do in person; they don’t appear to have added that option via ordering online) there were zero customization options.
For a topping freak like me, not being able to add 8,000 items definitely brings there experience down a notch or two.
Juicy Joint gets high marks for the beef itself—and is flavorful enough that it’s worth a try—but it won’t dethrone the burger-chans or Clutch Cities of the world without a much wider range of sandwich types, customization options, and loaded fry offerings.
4 patties out of 5 🍔 🍔 🍔 🍔
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