Revisiting my number-one burger in all of Houston for the first time since April
Longtime readers know burger-chan has been number-one in my heart for several years now.
Here’s a fun timeline of burger-chan (and Larry) history:
April 2016: Willet and Diane Feng officially open as Kuma Burgers in Greenway Plaza.
April 2017: The dynamic duo changes the restaurant’s name to burger-chan.
August 7, 2020: I get my first taste of burger-chan (delivered — I never actually visited the Greenway Plaza location).
August 28, 2020: Greenway Plaza location closes due to pandemic.
October 16, 2020: I enjoy burger-chan again; this time from its temporary delivery-only outpost at the Click Virtual Food Hall on Shepherd.
2021: I don’t recall ordering burger-chan much during this time period. Willet and Diane are hard at work planning and getting burger-chan 2.0 ready.
January 3, 2022: burger-chan 2.0 opens at its current above-ground home at 535 W. Alabama!
2022: burger-chan once again listed in the Houston Chronicle’s Top 100 Best Houston restaurants of 2022. burger-chan remained on the list for 2023 and 2024. Despite this I somehow go most — if not all — of 2022 without burger-chan in my life. To be fair, while I’ve loved hamburgers my entire adult life, I didn’t become obsessive and cataloguing and chronicling my consumption until…
Fall 2023: I remember that burger-chan rules and finally visit the Alabama St location. It is absolutely outstanding; instantly ascends to its perch as my #1 burger in all of Houston; and makes me question why on earth I went so long in between visits. While I tend to have great recall for this type of thing and/or documentation due to checking in to places / posting about my favorite spots, I believe this is my first time having burger-chan in at least two years. Blasphemy, I know.
December 2023: burger-chan tops my list of Best Burgers in Houston for 2023. Yelp rates burger-chan as one of the top 100 restaurants in the United States, ranking #47 out of 100. It also ranks #13 among the Top 100 places to eat in Texas.
October 2024: I enjoy burger-chan with much more consistency throughout 2024, and after getting to know Willet and Diane, they go the extra mile and release a limited-edition Bleu Cheese Burger at my request! The burger is exceptional of course, and to this day has yet to return.
December 2024: burger-chan once again tops my list of Best Burgers in Houston for 2024—a list that just keeps on growing. Yelp also again rates burger-chan as one of the top 100 restaurants in the United States, this time rising to #27.
April 2025: After nearly 10 years of incredibly hard work, Willet and Diane partner with chef Ryan Stewart and his Silver Linings Hospitality company to take over day-to-day operations of the restaurant. They of course remain involved, but not at the daily cadence they once were. Thankfully, quality-wise nothing skips a beat (other than getting to see their smiling faces upon walking in).
July 2025: I publish my first-ever Houston Hamburger Power Rankings, featuring the Top 30 hamburgers in the city. burger-chan retains its lofty perch at #1.
And what did I order today? So glad you asked. I call it the Larry Classic: it’s the Spicy!!! Burger—which comes standard with pepperjack, charred jalapeños, pickled jalapeños, soy serrano peppers, and sambal mayo—on a sweet sourdough roll modified with three 2-oz patties, 1x Smoked Ghost Chili Pepper Flakes, fried egg over easy, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, lettuce, tomato, raw onion, pickles, mayo, mustard, and ketchup.
Utter saporous bliss.
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