Month: February 2025

Monday, February 24, 2025 — Being the insatiable beef animal that I am, with my birthday on a Friday this year—effectively resulting in a full-on weekend-long birthday celebration—I couldn’t resist the opportunity to knock multiple spots off of my to-do list.

First up, I chose Il Bracco for my birthday lunch burger. Careful readers know I favor burger specialty joints, but my interest was piqued on the heels of Eater’s most recent list of its “Best Burgers in Houston right now” (updated January 2, 2025), which made a point to mention this Galleria-area Italian restaurant’s hamburger in its sister restaurant Balboa Surf Club’s blurb. 

With Balboa being the one of the two that actually made the list, I had a tough decision to make, but Il Bracco’s topping combination of Calabrian chilies, aged provolone, arugula, fennel, and red onion sounded too good to pass up. Let’s be real, Il Bracco had me at Calabrian chilies. Il Bracco also had a slight edge in the ratings (4.4 to Balboa’s 4.2 on Yelp), so that also helped seal the decision.

Il Bracco itself is a winning place for a meal; the interior decor is cozy and elegant, but not too stuffy—it felt like a great sue of the former California Pizza Kitchen space. As for the burger — it’s definitely a flavorful retardant burger, with the Calabrian chiles providing a pleasant heat to a very juicy and flavorful patty. The burger is on the tinier side, and in some regards could almost be seen as a slider or appetizer. That’s not a knock on the actual burger itself, though I don’t know that it exactly seared itself in my memory. 

However, I’m glad that my warm-up burger wasn’t one of my typically enormous offerings, as I knew I had a classic Larry hedonistically consumptive experience awaiting me at my second burger of the day for my birthday dinner.

Sure enough, my selection for birthday burger #2 was about as diametrically opposed an experience from Il Bracco as you could probably get: Twisted Turban (2838 S Texas 6 B, Houston, TX 77082), which is on south Highway 6 just past Westheimer. 

As if Twisted Turban’s (which, at 4.5 on Yelp and 4.6 on Google make it the 21st-highest-rated overall hamburger place in Houston, and 8th-highest-rated in the Restaurant with a Notable Burger category) food photos weren’t right in my wheelhouse as it is, their descriptions are also mouth-watering. 

Me being the savage that I am, I had to go with their Diablo Burger—which is comprised of a Serrano-stuffed patty topped with sauteed onions, pickles, jalapeños, jalapeño pepper jack cheese, jalapeño chips, their Diablo sauce, and a jalapeño popper—and of course added a second patty plus bacon and egg.

Talk about hedonistically consumptive. This wonderfully seasoned delicious grass-fed Halal ode to beefy excess absolutely screams “Larry Burger” at anyone who will listen, and was a most worthy selection for my birthday dinner burger. 

We also went with the Loaded Tots as our side, which was a bit inconsistent but interesting in its own right, sitting on a bed of queso . All in all, this was a delightful experience, and I’m surprised that Twisted Turban is “only” ranked at 4.5/4.6 (of course; these are exceptional grades in their own right, with nearly 400 reviewers on Yelp and almost 1,000 on Google — I think I was just slightly surprised to not see them at the very top with the best of the best).

Lastly, for birthday burger #3 (don’t worry, this one wasn’t also consumed in the same day—spaced this one out for Sunday evening), we landed on PINCHO (2710 W Grand Pkwy N Suite 100, Katy, TX 77449). This Miami-based mini-chain (six locations in Florida and 4 in the Greater Houston area) has a TON of options on its menu, from burgers to kebabs, bowls, salads, plates, chicken sandwiches, and hot dogs.

I opted for the Black Magic Truffle Burger, consisting of a 100% fresh angus beef patty and topped with swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, and black garlic truffle aioli. I added a second patty, fried egg, and applewood smoked bacon—though much to my chagrin, there isn’t a jalapeño in sight on the menu.

Unfortunately the burger was overcooked and completely devoid of flavor. and it wasn’t just me — the six adults at the table all thought their burgers were mediocre. Mushroom and Swiss isn’t a combo I go for too often, but I was really intrigued by the truffle sauce. Sadly, none of it tasted like anything.

I always feel bad slamming a place, but PINCHO was a tremendously underwhelming experience overall. 4.0 on Yelp and 4.5 on Google are generous, and I’m not sure you could do worse in a pinch.

Here were my final ratings:

Il Bracco: 3.75

Twisted Turban: 4.50

PINCHO: 2.00

Friday, February 14, 2025 — When I originally compiled my massive compendium of every burger place conceivable in the greater Houston area alongside their Yelp and Google ratings, there were two establishments with very similar names that both had high ratings: M & M Hamburger (210 Wayside Dr), and the former M & M Grill (6921 Almeda Rd). Even more confusingly, they were both located in parts of town I don’t often traverse.

Thankfully, the latter opted to rebrand to the far more Google-friendly Loaded Burger, and readers may recall I checked it off the list last fall (and enjoyed it!).

As I surveyed the Hamburger Joint category for my next Friday Burger Adventure, I discovered that M & M Hamburger was the highest rated I hadn’t yet tried (4.6 on both Yelp and Google), and so it was finally time to give it a go. Unfortunately, this was the first local burger expedition in a minute that failed to live up to expectations.

For starters, the menu is seriously confusing and there are a lot of options. The three that struck my fancy were the Bacon Cheeseburger, Double Cheeseburger, and Crazy Burger, though the descriptions were all virtually identical, and so it wasn’t clear what the differentiators were—especially with regards to what made the “Crazy Burger” deserving of that appellation.

I opted for their double cheeseburger—which comes standard with cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and mayo, and added bacon and jalapeños. I’m sad to report that while the meat was substantive (no smashburgers here!) this was a rather dry affair and didn’t taste particularly well-seasoned to me. There was a sauce of some kind dripping from the sandwich, but because the descriptions were so minimal I have no idea what it was. Additionally, the toppings weren’t evenly spread out—I finally got a taste of jalapeño about 3/4 of the way through, but it was too little, too late.

While this is more of a me problem than an M & M problem, it also didn’t help that it’s located close to 30 minutes east of Uptown. I’m not shy about driving far to experience greatness, but when the destination is a bit of a hike and also carries robust ratings, there’s an inherent assumption that it will be worth the ride.

Despite my quibbles, I actually think M & M Hamburger probably does put out a fine burger sandwich. Appearance-wise it looked tasty. Maybe I went on an off day. This one’s a 3.5 for me.

(Alternative title: Taste the Rainbow of Meat Flavors)

Friday, February 7, 2025 — Rainbow Lodge is a Houston institution with nearly 50 years of serving the city. I became aware of their mouth-watering burger when I first began compiling my ratings / to-do list over a year ago, and after the Houston Chronicle named it one of its Top 18 Burgers in Houston back in November, I knew I needed to finally give it a shot.

In some regards it almost feels like this was put on a tee for me—a restaurant that only sells its burger during one meal service a week, on Fridays at lunchtime? A match made in heaven for a Friday Burger Adventure™️.

The official name of the sandwich is Wild Game Burger Friday, where the star of the show is a delicious blend of elk, bison and ribeye. While anticipation was already high heading into the proceedings, I am delighted to say that Rainbow Lodge wildly exceeded my expectations. 

For starters, I can’t say I’ve ever had a patty blend containing these three ingredients—a truly savory and exceptional meat-consuming experience. But that was only the start. The burger comes standard with a chef-inspired topping each week—today it was pimento and pepper jack cheese—and smoked creole mustard, lettuce, tomato, pickles, and onions. 

What they don’t tell you on the menu is that you can add a slew of extra toppings, which for this burger-stacking obsessive absolutely made my day. A fried egg, bacon, and fresh jalapeños immediately entered the equation, and lo and behold, I found myself staring down a behemoth akin to the meat towers I make at home. 

All of the components sang in perfect harmony, and the bun was generous enough to (mostly) keep everything together. Though as is my wont, several toppings did start falling out as we crossed the halfway mark. Even so, I was impressed with the integrity of the bun.

I’ve been favoring spots that specifically specialize in just burgers during the majority of my Houston Burger Exploits, and so it’s been a minute since I ate at a regular establishment that also has a notable burger (that I was also wowed by), but I have to say—Rainbow Lodge’s Wild Game Burger Friday might be the best restaurant burger in town (as a reminder, I categorize my burger reviews in several buckets: Hamburger Joints, Smashburger Places, Restaurant with a Notable Burger, and Food Trucks).

And thus, Houston’s burger scene continues to absolutely slay. It boggles the mind that we have a seemingly endless number of incredible options. I have no idea how Rainbow Lodge only has a 3.9 on Yelp—maybe the flavors of the components of the rest of the menu aren’t as endorphin-releasing as that burger?—but this was pretty easily a 4.75 for me.