Month: November 2024

Saturday, November 30, 2024 — As a person who loves chronicling the things he’s obsessed with (I’ve been publishing “My Favorite Beers I Drank in a Given Year” lists for 13 straight years now), I’m delighted to present my latest roundup: My 2nd Annual Top Burgers in Houston rundown. 

Those reading this blog know I’ve been on a mission to try as many new Houston-area burgers as I can in any given year, and I knocked quite a few off my to-do list in 2024. 

    (The hero image, as well as above, are both my homemade concoctions 😊)

While the meat is of course the most important component during my evaluations, I also love smothering my burgers with an excessive amount of toppings, and with that in mind I tend to favor establishments that offer a wide range of customizable options, with the end result being as massive a sandwich is possible to the point where people question how I physically consume the darn thing.

My criteria for these lists is that the burger has to be from an establishment I hadn’t previously visited prior to this year, enabling my burgers of the year list to be comprised of entirely new destinations (though I’ll add a Power Rankings list at the end, for those interested in my favorite overall spots).

For posterity, last year’s list was as follows:

5) Fusion Grill
4) Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack
3) Lankford Grocery
2) Old School Burger
1) burger-chan

Without further adieu, here’s this year’s list of my favorite new burgers in Houston, expanded from 5 to a Top 7:

My Top 7 Houston Burgers of 2024

7) Burger Bodega: I was delighted to find that Burger Bodega exceeded my expectations, and delivered one of my most memorable consumption experiences of the year. I have gone on record numerous times stating that given my druthers I always prefer a normal-sized non-smashed patty, but then smashburgers keep showing up in my lists of favorites.

6) Kowbell Burger: This Katy Asian Town gem whips up delicious hamburgers infused with flavors from Asian cuisine, and the resulting fusion is a symphony of salivary gland-inducing saporous bliss on the palate. My recommendation: Fire on the Mountain Burger, featuring pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, soy-pickled japaleños, and Akma sauce.

5) Big Burger World: Another bangin’ Katy hamburger joint; this one a bit of a hole-in-the-wall several miles up North Fry Road. Totally unassuming, this place unsurprisingly slings huge patties with plenty of topping options, and the beef is tender, juicy, and seasoned to excellence. If only it were a tad closer; I’d love to see more people know about and give this place the love it deserves.

4) Star Sailor: Owner Marin Slanina’s epic take on the smashburger is consistently rated among the city’s best, and is extraordinarily well-deserving of all of the praise it receives. Juicy, bursting with flavor, and painstakingly prepared, you can practically taste the care and attention that goes into every delicious burger crafted at Star Sailor.

3) Champ Burger: Champ’s as old school as old school gets, with 60-plus years in the business. Rather than search for new adjectives, here’s what I wrote about Champ after devouring it last January: “The Champ burger was, at the risk of overstating things, about as hedonistically thrilling a consumptive experience as one can hope to attain. Everything about this sandwich screams love, deliciousness, indulgence, excess, and yet still care and attentiveness. The patties are expertly seasoned and the 81/19 Chuck beef blend is melt-in-your-mouth exquisite (do yourself a favor and get the double, you won’t be sad that you did), the cheese perfectly gooey, and the toppings — oh, the toppings! — elevated the entire composition to an ethereal level.”

2) Mean Burger: If we expand the definition of “Houston’s best burger” to include the surrounding suburban areas, the Humble-based establishment—located about 10 minutes northeast of IAH—might be the best hamburger around. A hugely satisfying experience, with monster patties and all the fixings you could hope to add—bacon, an egg, jalapeños, blue cheese, and on down the line—I’ve found myself looking for excuses to drive north even when I don’t have a flight. Another spot that would do exceptionally well if it had a more central location.

1) Clutch City: A most-deserving #1 Burger of 2024, Clutch City’s meat is beyond reproach. Tender, melt-in-your-mouth, deliciously seasoned and lovingly prepared, owner Omar Shaikh’s brilliant burger is everything you want it to be. From my May review:

“The Halal beef is exquisite, and Omar’s rub elevates the patties to the next level. It’s a simple BBQ rub consisting of cumin, salt and pepper (he didn’t say paprika or cayenne, though I felt like I was possibly picking some of those flavors up as well), but there’s an art in preparing burgers in just such a way where the finished product retains the key elements of the selected seasonings. And the clutch sauce — divine. Not sure I’ve ever had the precise combination of Cajun hot sauce, sweet pickle juice, pepper, mayo, mustard, and pureed onion, but now I want to put this sauce on literally everything.”

Really the only downside for Clutch is that, located in the airy Uptown Conservatory food hall—a very welcome addition to the Houston food scene—it’s also about 50 feet away from burger-chan, often requiring a decision not even Solomon himself would want to make.

Special Mention

KP’s Kitchen. I find myself favoring burger establishments over restaurants that serve a notable burger, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t give KP’s a shoutout. The smashburger is a special one, and I’d love to see them open a location further west of the Spring Branch outpost, in my neck of the woods in Katy.

Honorable mentions also go to Austin import Not a Damn Chance Burger, and Loaded Burger, both of which are worthy of any burger aficionado’s time.

And for the record, here are my current Overall Houston Hamburger Power Rankings, regardless of whether I first consumed in 2024:

5) Old School Burger
4) Stanton’s City Bites
3) Clutch City
2) JLB Eatery
1) burger-chan

I have to give a special shout-out to burger-chan here, who was my #1 burger of 2023, and maintains its place as my favorite hamburger spot located anywhere (not just in Houston). Owners Willet and Diane Feng continue to be lauded for their efforts in elevating what a hamburger can be, and in 2024 alone they were recognized as a Top 100 Houston Restaurant on Yelp; and one of the Top 18 Burgers as well as one of the top 100 restaurants—not burger places, but all dining establishments—in all of Houston by The Houston Chronicle; truly cementing themselves as the best of the best.

Not to mention they released a special limited-edition Blue Cheese Burger at my request, which was among my most memorable burger-eating experiences in all of 2024. It’s burger-chan’s world; we just live in it.

Friday, November8, 2024 — Burganic Hub’s been on my to-do list for a minute—with a 4.5 on Yelp and a 4.4 on Google (one of the few instances I’ve come across where Yelpers like a place more than Googlers), it currently sits as the 11th-highest-rated burger joint in Houston on my list—but I think I subconsciously deprioritized it given its vegan-first leanings. Not that I have anything against vegans or vegan food! But me being the devout and dedicated carnivore that I am, I can’t say a burger place that markets itself first and foremost as plant-based screams “Larry, drop everything and go there ASAP!”

Situated literally just outside the Galleria Food Truck Park on Chimney Rock and Val Verde that I recently noted might be the most competitive location to sling patties in all of Houston (Crypto Burger, Bun Slut and newcomer Juicy Joint are all within roughly 50 feet of each other, plus burger-chan, Clutch City Grill, and Bubba’s are essentially around the corner), Burganic Hub plies its organic, grass-fed, antibiotic-free, hormone-free, halal wagyu beef and fake beef trade in a tiny space in a nondescript strip center.

I ordered their Fiery Jalapeño Burger, which comes topped with cheddar, grilled jalapeños, hot relish, and caramelized onions. And of course, I had to add a second patty, because double hamburgers are life.

Overall the burger was fine, though I came away feeling a little lacking. The beef was lightly seasoned, though too well-done for my liking. It wasn’t a hockey puck or anything, but minimally juicy for sure. The star of the show was the heat; even though the description doesn’t note any specific treatment for the jalapeños, I thought I detected perhaps a pickling of some kind. And the hot relish provided the extra heat I crave, while the sturdy-yet-soft bun helped tie everything together. Without those components, I’m sad to say I don’t know that this would have been all that notable an experience.

The bar in Houston is a high one these days. Earlier this year some of my buddies were teasing me that it seemed as though every burger I reviewed received rave remarks across the board. And to a large extent, that was true — the first half of this year saw me visit Katy’s Big Burger World, Burger Bodega, Clutch City, Star Sailor, Humble’s Mean Burger (which might be the best in the Greater Houston Area), legendary Houston institution Champ Burger, KP’s Kitchen, and Katy Asian Town’s Kowbell Burger all for the first time; and the lowest score of those eight exceptional destinations was a 4.5 out of 5. But the last few weeks’ worth new spots — Juicy Joint, Bunslut, and now Burganic Hub — haven’t quite met the elevated standard set by the best of the best.

Of course, things change, and I could be sitting here a year from now telling you that Burganic Hub has the best burger in Houston! As it currently stands, my rating is 3.75 out of 5 patties.