Bacon Blue Hellfire

Sampling limited edition burgers from Proper and Stuffed Belly; and a discussion on hamburger/smashburger specialty spots vs. the “restaurant hamburger” experience

Proper’s Blue Cheese Burger, which really didn’t have much Blue Cheese at all

Stuffed Belly’s Hellfire Burger, which packed a LOT of heat

While I don’t know that I’ll ever tire of trying something I haven’t previously had, during the last few weeks I’ve made a deliberate effort to return to burger joints I’ve already been to during my Friday Burger Adventures.

This is due in part to a desire to revisit places I adore (and others that perhaps didn’t wow me the first go-round but that I’ve been meaning to give a second chance) but also the fact that my “must-try” list has been thinning out.

Don’t get me wrong—there are still TONS of burgers in Houston I haven’t tried yet, but the number of exceptional (what I would generally consider 4.5 and above) hamburger / smashburger / food trucks I haven’t sampled is actually pretty small right now (while my spreadsheet does have many “restaurant with notable burger” entrants on it, I don’t find myself craving the restaurant burger experience the same way I do pursuing locations that primarily specialize in hamburger sandwiches, and so my desire to check those establishments off the list isn’t as compelling).

With that in mind, the 4.5 and higher (on Yelp) hamburger / smashburger / food trucks I’ve yet to try include:

• Burger Boss to Go
• Busta’s Burgers (multiple locations, though all are a bit further flung that I’d like)
• O My Burger (Missouri City)
• Superburgers (Magnolia)
• Burgerhouse (Willowbrook)
• Umbrella Fellas (I’m probably never getting here since they are Downtown and don’t open until like 6 p.m.)
• Burger Truck 2020
• Kabab Shako Mako (I’ve been meaning to try, but their online ordering website gives zero information about the contents of the burger; however; its presence on this 5 Must-Try Houston Halal Burgers Instagram post — of which I’ve had the other four — has kept it on my radar
• Shawarma Hub (food truck that recently introduced a smashburger)
• Kitchen Rumors’ Paratha Burger. This JUST dropped this past Sunday and so I don’t actually know what it’s rated but the hype is already out of control so it’s in my orbit. The Paratha Burger is only available on the restaurant’s happy hour menu which doesn’t start until 4:00 p.m., which will make my securing it a bit of a challenge since I intentionally limit my burger consumption to Fridays at lunchtime. We’ll see if I can make an exception.

If anyone has any experience with any of these and thinks it’s crazy that a burger fiend such as myself hasn’t tried it yet, please shoot me a note at the Musical Box Instagram account or larry dot koestler at gmail dot com.

Anyway, as for the two latest burgers I tried upon revisiting places I’d been —

Proper – A Burger Spot debuted at Finn Hall in Downtown this past March, and I immediately fell for its incredibly juicy take on the smash. One of my favorite burger experiences of the year; they recently checked in at #9 on My Top 30 Power Rankings list. With Proper introducing a limited-time Bacon Blue Cheese burger—one of my all-time favorite topping combos—the time was right for a revisit. Somewhat unfortunately, I can’t say I was wowed by their take on the Bacon Blue. The excessive juiciness from my original sampling was nowhere to found, and I also wasn’t wild about the sesame seed bun. Overall the flavor was muted, which is not something one typically says about blue cheese anything. Honestly, I struggled to even find the blue cheese on this thing. A bit of a miss for me, unfortunately.

I made my maiden voyage to Stuffed Belly back in April, and came away thinking that it was maybe a cut above McDonald’s, and nothing to write home about. Regardless, I was excited to see their announcement of the limited edition Hellfire Burger, just in time for spooky season.

First, the positives: this thing has legit heat! The Hellfire features Carolina Reaper cheese, a 4-chile sauce with habanero, arbol, Serrano, and ghost pepper, plus Sichuan chile oil, pickles, and pickled jalapeños. I would consider getting it again for the blast of fire alone. On the flip side, the burgers themselves remained underwhelming, with minimal-to-no flavor, and kind of a sad, slightly soggy construction overall.

While I don’t think Shake Shack is elite or anything, as a fast food-esque smashburger purveyor, I assume that is the level of quality that Stuffed Belly is going for, and they are still not there yet. Though the Shack does not have anything as hot as the Hellfire, so there’s that!

Overall, I still don’t have Stuffed Belly in My Top 30, and while I don’t love the idea of one unmemorable experience dragging an establishment I like down, I don’t know that I’ll be able to keep Proper at #9 on the Top 30 with such a middling showing the second time around. There are too many elite burger spots in Houston vying for the Top 10. Will be interesting to see how the list shakes out when I update it next (probably in a month or so).