Moving On To A New Line Of Articles

I began the current series of articles by proposing to visit hamburger restaurants around the city of Houston and report about our experiences. These articles were to detail actual trips my son and I made and the food we consumed. We made those trips and I wrote a couple of articles about the first two places where we ate. But in the process of preparing a third article detailing our experience at the next stop I became convicted about two things.

First, I am overweight, and not by a small about. Recreational consumption of food is a huge problem in the United States - for me personally and for millions of our fellow citizens. Meanwhile, much of the world goes hungry. We eat for entertainment. They eat only to survive. That's not right. I'm not a Catholic but the Catholic catechism defines gluttony as a mortal sin. That is as true today as it has ever been.

Second, not all the food we ate was of equal quality. All of it was good, but some was better than others. However, each of the people operating the restaurants we visited worked quite diligently to earn a living. They need all the customers they can get and don't need someone criticizing their work.

So, I'm not going to finish the current series of articles. Instead, I'm going to focus on not eating so much. If you enjoy hamburgers and are curious about which kind is best, take a trip around your own city or town and decide for yourself. As for me, I'm pushing myself toward salad and apples.

Burger Tour of Houston - Second Stop - Hubcap Grill

Our second stop on the Burger Tour of Houston took us to Hubcap Grill. They have several locations around the city but we visited the original site, located at 1111 Prairie Street, downtown. This is another of the hamburger joints in the "store-turned-cafe" genre and as you can see from the photo below, the interior is quaint but cramped. (They have outdoor seating on one side).

The hamburger I had that day was hand-patted - which is the first step beyond the "machine burger" served by fast food restaurants - but beyond that I found it . . . unremarkable. Good, but not outstanding and lacking a noticeable  "wow" factor. You can see part of one on Jack's plate in the photo above. He gave it his typical, "better than McDonalds" rating. I gave it the, "Okay, but let's try another place" response.

Hubcap Grill is a favorite for many Houstonians and has a strong reputation. If I were already downtown for another reason and wanted a hamburger, I would go there. But for a special trip, I would go somewhere else.

The thing that did catch my interest and would take me back there on a special trip was the story of the original owners - Italian immigrants who came to America in the early twentieth century and opened the location as a store. Photos of the couple hang on the walls and the current owners were more than willing to talk about the history of the place. And though I might not drive down there solely for the burger, I would return especially to hear more of the founders' story and this time to take notes.

Hubcap Grill - 1111 Prairie Street, Houston, Texas

Burger Tour of Houston - First Stop - Lankford Grocery and Market

Our first stop on the Burger Tour of Houston was at Lankford Grocery & Market - part of the Texas grocery-store-turned-cafe restaurant sub-genre. All the Houston food web sites and eatery referral places rave about this place so we began our quest for the definitive burger here. Our first experience rated an "okay" from me. Jack gave it his usual "better than McDonalds" but really, I was underwhelmed. The burger was big, which is good, and loaded with whatever toppings we requested, also good, but I thought the flavor of the meat was flat - it didn't appear to be hand-patted - and lost in the add-ons. 

This place is known far and wide and the general public talks about it all the time so we went back for a second taste after visiting several other eateries. This time I ordered my burger plain - meat and bread. Jack still gave it a "better than McDonalds" rating and I still found the meat lacking, but the atmosphere was better and the place had that "grows on you" feel.

The story of the business is rather interesting - family owned for multiple generations, began as a grocery store now just a restaurant. Still operated by a Lankford. An in-law was manning the cash register on our most recent stop, which I suppose said something about their trust in him. It also told me the owners placed greater emphasis on the food and service than on the money, which goes a long way toward explaining why this place is always packed. They serve many other dishes besides hamburgers, including breakfast, which we intend to try, but that's for another tour.

The picture below shows the interior.

Lankford Grocery & Market is located at 88 Dennis Street in the Montrose section of Houston

Burger Tour of Houston

The picture above is a shot of Callaghan's Irish Social Club - a bar on Charleston Street in Mobile, Alabama, and home of the best hamburger on the Gulf Coast. From Corpus Christi to Apalachicola, you can't find a place that beats the taste of their burger. Jack and I have eaten there many times and when we're in Mobile we do our best to go there for lunch.

Since moving to Houston we've tried to find a burger joint with a comparable taste and similar ambiance. We've been aided in our effort by Jack's gift of "Burger Bucks" - money he gave me last Christmas to help cover the cost of a burger tasting tour of Houston. Two men with an appetite and cash, in an '85 Mercedes with a broken air conditioner - we've sweated our way through some interesting experiences.

Over the next few weeks, I'll show you pictures of the places we've visited so far and catch you up on or assessment of the flavor.