Burger adventures

Creative burgers are front and center at the recently opened Austin-transplant Hopdoddy Burger Bar in the River Oaks District. (Photo: Hopdoddy Burger Bar)

A year has gone by since our last burger schmooze-fest, and the last 12 months have seen a variety of new hamburger establishments entering the Houston market. New upscale restaurants also are including gourmet burgers on their menu. Fortunately, this means I can order a hamburger almost everywhere.

For me, a hamburger starts with the meat – the taste, temperature and seasoning, cooked to order. Many places I enjoy grind their meat daily on-premise to ensure freshness and quality, sometimes with rich mixtures like brisket and tenderloin blended with chuck. However, burgers do not have to be expensive to be enjoyable. In fact, most of my favorites are $8 and under. From classic to gourmet, burgers continue to be my ideal comfort food – so much that I even write a blog about local burgers, at eat-more-burgers.com.

When someone asks about the best burger in Houston, I tend to name a classic local institution. My original favorite is Stanton’s City Bites, 1420 Edwards Street in the First Ward, and a newer favorite is Peña’s Donut Heaven & Grill, 11601 Shadow Creek Parkway in Pearland. But competition has arrived with favorites such as Austin-grown Hopdoddy, 4444 Westheimer in the River Oaks District, and the New York-based Shake Shack, scheduled to open late 2016 in The Galleria and late 2017 in Rice Village. Only time will tell if these expanding brands can compete with Houston’s home-grown burgers.

I would love to hear about your favorite burger spots. Share your favorites in the Comments under this story, or email [email protected], and I’ll begin my research for next year’s column.