Friday, January 26, 2024 — Champ Burger is Houston burger royalty in this city, having first flung its doors open 61 years ago. It jumped toward the top of my to-eat list when I began compiling my Houston burger rating tracking spreadsheet a couple of months ago, standing out as the 8th-highest-rated burger in the entire Greater Houston area (if you go by Yelp) or tied with three others for 2nd (if you prefer Google ratings). For added context, this is a spreadsheet that currently features nearly 120 places in and around Houston to grab a burger, and almost certainly isn’t an exhaustive list!
Right out of the gate, its well-worn neighborhood feel and overall vibe — lengthy line at the order window and mostly outdoor seating — are immediately evocative of fellow Houston burger institutions Lankford Grill, Bubba’s Texas Burger Shack, and Stanton’s City Bites (eagle-eyed readers will recall that the former two made my Best Burgers of 2023 roundup, while the latter also would’ve been on there had I extended the list past a mere five slots). It’s also no coincidence that each of these venues all trade in exceptional beef stack assembly, sharing a like-minded ethos of “more is more” with regards to both patty size (no smashburgers to be found at these spots) and generosity of toppings.
So let’s get to it. 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.
Often when one orders bacon on a burger, you’ll get one slice — maybe two if you’re lucky — that isn’t cohesively synthesized into the sandwich and frequently feel like an afterthought. Champ’s burgers are flooded with bacon, and it’s cooked to middle-ground soft-yet-chewy perfection. I added jalapeños to mine (because how can you not) and the sandwich also comes standard with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mayo, and you get heaping piles of everything. I’m not usually looking for tons of mayo but the burger was drenched in it, and it really worked; while my wrapper probably contained about 10 jalapeños that had to jump ship as I systematically devoured this monster beef delivery vehicle at my typical breakneck pace.
Recency bias is always difficult to overcome when comparing favorite entries in a given category — and I absolutely loved both Bubba’s and Lankford, and should probably try to orchestrate a blind tasting one of these days for fairness and accuracy’s sake), but it’s very possible I just found my new favorite hamburger* in Houston.
(*While technically both are still hamburgers, at this point the spots that specialize in smashburgers versus the older-school traditional hamburger joints arrive at their delicious destinations in such distinctly unique fashions from each other, that the “my favorite hamburger” designation can be bifurcated into regular and smash — which means burger-chan of course remains my top smash in the city).
Best Burgers Near Me 