Burger finds

The Stilton Burger from Witchcraft Tavern & Provision Co., topped with Stilton blueberry cheese, is both sweet and tangy.

It’s been a year since we last talked hamburgers, my quintessential comfort food. A burger buddy of mine recently asked if we had run out of new burger spots to try. I firmly disagreed, and then embarked on a quest that resulted in several new great finds.

For me, it’s all about the meat. A good bun and accompaniments can help to make a great burger, but if the meat is over-seasoned, not flavorful, or not cooked to my liking, I am dissatisfied. So many of the places I enjoy grind their meat daily on-premise to ensure freshness and quality. In addition, the type of meat used has come a long way since the pressed hamburger patty of the 1960s. A burger also should taste as good as it looks.

When someone asks me about the best burger in Houston, I always give the same response. My personal favorite is the bacon cheeseburger topped with a fried egg on freshly baked challah at Stanton’s City Bites, 1420 Edwards Street in the First Ward, which was founded in 1961 as a grocery store. I’ve written about Stanton’s several times on my blog, eat-more-burgers.com.

Many new spots have sprouted up since last year. Revelry on Richmond, a sports bar at 1613 Richmond Avenue, offers some of the best-tasting burgers in Houston, with ingredients such as pickled onions, Sriracha mayonnaise and a pretzel bun. Longtime fave Yale Street Grill & Gifts at 2100 Yale Street in the Heights still offers old-fashioned griddle hamburgers in a pharmacy soda-counter setting. I can never resist ordering their classic cheeseburger and fries.

I would love to hear about your favorite burger spots – especially those I may not have visited yet. So, share your favorites in the Comments under this story or email me at [email protected], and I’ll begin my research for next year’s column.

Buzz dining contributor Russell Weil is a native, second-generation Houstonian who loves the history of his hometown and all things burger. Author of the blog Eat More Burgers, Russell enjoys finding new dining spots with his monthly “Burger Buddy Adventure Group.” Russell also is a longtime docent at Holocaust Museum Houston and a senior project manager at the technology-communications company ContentActive, where many of his clients are nonprofits, including the United Way, Houston Food Bank, Houston Restaurant Weeks and Gulf Coast Regional Blood Center. Check out his blog at eat-more-burgers.com. Regular Buzz dining columnist Dai Huynh will return next month.