This post is hot and fresh just like the newest Smashburger in San Antonio on Potranco near 151. Opening to the masses today, I was luckily invited to a sneak peak lunch yesterday and sized the spanking new burger place up.

I’ve definity heard some of the buzz around Smashburger, a clever franchise that has the support of a well made marketing campaign that is hip and exciting. But all the hype could be another false fame to claim. I needed to see if the burger fulfilled the design. So yesterday for lunch i went to smash me some tasty, and I was not disappointed.

Ordering the BBQ bacon and cheese burger on an egg bun, and deviously adding a fried egg on it, I stared the cashier in the eye and added a Rootbeer float to my order. This was going to be a big lunch. Smash fries on the side and all I had to do was wait patiently for my order to arrive. The general manager, Toby, was kind enough to help with any burger questions and informed me of the reasoning behind the egg bun. Apparently, the burgers are so delectably juicy that the egg bun is necessary to help embrace those juices and insure that guests are able to savor every flavor these burgers have to offer.

My rootbeer float was a scrumptious old school concoction that featured bottled IBC rootbeer and a pretty creamy and smooth vanilla ice cream. Comrads at the table who ordered the chocolate shake on the menu were slightly disappointed in the stingy use of the chocolate syrup in said shakes. Some beer and burger people will be pleased to know that Smash serves beer and wine with a bucket of 4 beers coming in at $9.99, pretty fair deal if I do say so myself. But now the main event.

My BBQ burger did not disappoint the hype. The egg was perfectly fried, the crispy onion straws swimming in the BBQ sauce, and that extra sexy applewood bacon all contributed to an amazing combination. Although, if you prefer your bacon crispy I suggest you request that at the register. Also, the BBQ sauce on their burgers is nothing short of amazing. I definitely recommend this burger to everyone! I cannot wait to go back and try any of the other exciting burgers on the menu. I will say that the smashfries are pretty tasty, however are seasoned a little too heavy in some areas. The regular fries are a safer bet, lightly salted and a better quality version of America’s favorite fry. Beside those small details, the patty, the bun and the BBQ sauce make an incredible experience for your taste buds. The excitement and energy of the hosts make this place a new establishment that wants to please their guests. Although perhaps a little too eager, I’m sure that was a first day jitters kind of deal and will ease up.

Smashburger I give you an impressive 8.5 and can’t wait to return to you soon. Thanks everyone for a great experience and the free meal! Hugs, kisses, and all my <3, EAT IT!

SmashBurger
Potranco Rd. & 151 Access Rd
8802 Potranco Road
San Antonio, Texas 78245

This week’s burger establishment takes it name perhaps from that inarticulate sentence that rumbles out of my mouth in the most desperate and dire of burger times: Crave Burger. A sentence that beat out “Me want food,” Crave Burger is up on the podium for burger scrutiny, or love.

Located in San Antonio, Tx off of 410, Urbanspoon voters give it an average rating of an impressive 89% while Yelp reviews have Crave Burger carrying 5 delicious stars.  The reviews left me wondering what the star to jalapeño ratio was and whether I had enough thumbs to review this hit burgerium. From the parking lot the smell of a grill at work gets patrons mouths salivating. Practically running through the door, I  met with a well sized restaurant that uses the space wisely to sit a plentiful amount of guests.  The kitchen area, grill etc are all placed directly behind the counter putting guests at ease, and placing that mouthwatering aroma all around.  Big Red on tap, three different buns, that sexy fried egg option, Crave Burger definitely wants patrons to create a unique burger for their unique palettes.

My burger of choice was the island burger: grilled pineapple, bacon, lettuce, tomato on top of a fresh all beef patty. It said aloha in all the right ways.  Placed between the wheat bun option, my burger walked that sweet burger line. This burger was a gut buster i never wanted to stop masticating. Thick cut bacon on top of a juicy patty and a sweet thick cut pineapple created an ensemble that definitely put me in a tropical mind set. Unfortunately, the tater tots left a little something to be desired, seasoned salt perhaps, some seasoning at least, but the fries were your standard issue tasty.

The staff was amazingly nice and assisted with all my burger queries. Football on the flat screens and what seemed to be a pretty cool kids ipod hooked up to the stereo the atmosphere made my burger experience pretty swell.  Over all I give Crave Burger a fine 7.5. I will be back to try the tempting Chalupa Burger and I recommend you EAT IT.

Crave Burger
4263 NW Loop 410, Ste 100
San Antonio, TX 78229
(210) 592-1539

Yes! Yes! and more YES! With Valentines, Easter, and Martin Luther King Day coming up you’ll need a nice cupcake recipe around that will wow the pants off of your fellow celebrators. I’m particularly fond of the Big Mac : ) EAT IT up burger slaves, Eat it all up!

This review is on my first burger of 2010 at the Elevation Burger on Great Hills Trail in Austin, Texas. This burgery is a purpose driven establishment that brings the burger back to the basics: Quality Food.  Elevation takes its business seriously, and burgers are its business. With an organic label on their ingredients and a commitment to the environment that is exhibited in their environmental structure the promise of a delicious burger is there. However, behind all these feel good, green, trendy notions could be a burger that doesn’t live up to it’s marketing genius, maybe.

My visit on January 1st was one filled with apprehension and high hopes.  The restaurant is located across from the Arboretum, a rather pleasant and moneycentric side of town.  The kind of place where you could market the green good life trends to yuppies and they’d eat it all up.  On my visit I tried to keep an eye on the locals and the staffing, and I was surprised and pleased with both.  This restaurant serves to the conscious Austin burger eater, a patron that believes in a better self as well as a better world in which the way to both are within our grasps. The staff was extremely nice and very helpful with all our burger questions and they seemed genuinely happy to be helping people and working hard. The actual experience of the restaurant was great. But all of that could fall through if the burger didn’t deliver.

The wait was decent, considering my burger was being made fresh from meat ground on the premises. When our burgers arrived I saw a perfectly sized burger that had a P. Terry’sesque feel to it.  Infact, the burger does resemble the Austin chain in several ways. Mainly because of the quality, organic seal on the ingredients and the simplicity of the burger.  This burger was amazing.  It was delicious and perfectly sized, not the kind of burger that has your gut evicting other organs for need of space. The patty, the fresh vegetables, the Elevation sauce (not Thousand Island but a sort of creamy tomato concoction), the simply stated bun all compiled an ensemble that made my taste buds fall into that deep burger LOVE. The fries, although were a bit too toasted, were impossible to stop devouring. All in all, my Elevation burger was a great to start to 2010. Environmentally friendly, health conscience, and enjoyable in just about every way possible I’m happy Elevation started my year off.

I highly, highly recommend Elevation Burger to anyone looking for a delicious feel good treat. Rated on a scale of 1-10 this burger gets a highly deserved 9 and you absolutely must EAT IT.

Elevation Burger
9828 Great Hills Trail
Austin, TX 78759
(512) 608-4054

Hours of Operation:
Sun-Thurs: 11am-9pm
Fri-Sat: 11am-10pm

Cheesefaces, ever wonder where to put your cheese? What about all that fresh lettuce? How about where on earth to put the meat? Alright maybe not that last one because of the sexual innuendo, but you get it. Toddland makes this incredibly delicious burger wallet where you can keep all your very important credit cards, money, phone number from the cashier at McDonald’s. Guys, this burger wallet could be yours for the not so cheesy price of $24 from Urban Outfitters or fredflare.com. It’s a little overpriced for me, personally, and I’ll probably be investigating knock-off brands in kid stores. But if you have the bread (buns) then be my guest to eat it all up.

Back with another Austin favorite- Phil’s Ice House! Located on Burnet road and attached to an Amy’s Ice Cream, this burgery looks extra fun! fun! fun! This is something that definitely continues to be said about the burger and beer place, the kids. On Yelp and Urbanspoon reviewers adore the grub and seem to see the shorter and often cuter patrons of Phil’s as a pox on the joint. But, in my eyes, in the season of holidays and cold weather, I found those foreign little people quite a pleasure. One fellow patron dining with me infact had on a pink, glitter tutu skirt. That and knowing that I wasn’t the only one dying to finish my burger and rush to the adjoining ice cream stand made me feel less guilty.

Enough about the visitors, Phil’s décor makes it look like a swinging joint. There’s a rather interesting playground, had it not been freezing and late, that I would have conquered. The menu has a certain Austin Pizzazz to it with burgers named so the locals can grin and order a burger that hits home in more ways than one. There’s beer available ( YES!), there’s shakes just over the way (Double YES!) and there are sweet potato fries. Sweet potato fries are much healthier than regular fries and also just a tad sweeter. You can get your basket of fries mixed or just regular or just sweet, your call of course. I decided to order the 78704 Burger, it screamed flavor explosion.

When we went, on New Year’s Eve the employees were pretty fun to talk to, even if they were busy serving a full house. Looking for seating was a little rough with all the patrons, and when we settled down to a roomy booth, a family came in that was going to have to split onto two small two seater tables. My friend suggested we move to the two seater table and let the family of five take the booth. A generous but small move, I thought, that would reward us in the end.

I must say this, I am not a charbroiled fan, but at Phil’s Icehouse they seem to have my ticket. This burger was feisty and delicious, he gave me a run for my refill and had me stuffing sweet potato fries into my mouth to put out the tingling fire. This burger is not a five alarmer, but it definetly leaves a flavorful tingle. The avocado, the jalepeno bun, the well placed jalapeno bombs, and monterrey cheese make this burger a winner in my eyes. Word on the street is that the 78704 also fairs well as a chicken sandwich, or unburger. My fries were well toasted and I must admit this was a worthy burger to see 2009 off with.

AND as my comrade and I headed to Amy’s after words to indulge our sweet teeth we found that family that we had given the booth to had purchased our dessert for us! It was a rather sweet gesture that made me see what it is about Texas hospitality in Austin that makes it a great capitol city and burger heartland. Thanks once again to that family out there!

And to sum it all up, I <3 Phil's. I can't wait to go back and try anyone of their Austinonian burgers and follow it up on the playground with some Amy's Ice Cream.

I give this burger a very full 8 and say you absolutely have to EAT IT all up!

Phil’s Ice House
5620 Burnet Rd
Austin, TX 78756
(512) 524-1212

This find is for all those fixed gears kids riding the pavement waves, pedaling their way to anywhere and sometimes nowhere. I bring to your attention a delicious and shiny hamburger bell to ring on your way to class or the pub crawl.

Available for purchase from Urban Outfitters, Amazon, and many Bike shops, I’d say this bell will be the cheese to your burger. WORD. Eat it creeps.

This was found via the daily what.

Alas the doublecheeseblogger returns from the busy nothing of life! Everyone listen to me, today in the soggy drip of the day I headed to Freddy’s the frozen custard and steakburger fast food dive on Potranco. I would like to give you a delicious report on the tasty steakburger, however I was a little disappointed in the thinness of the patty. I could barely taste the ground beef surrounded by all the toppings. I had ordered the California Burger combo, a single patty (bad decision) with onions, tomato, lettuce, Freddy’s special sauce (tasted like thousand island), and cheese. All those ingredients overpowered the thin patty. I think it was delicious, in a double patty burger I’m pretty sure it would be great, however the burger in a single number is no bueno.

The fries are anorexic thin but darn it they aren’t addictive. Throw some seasoned salt on those skinny little potato bits or don’t you’ll find yourself inhaling them all. Would I go back, I guess. I’d definitely try a bigger burger and add some bacon, but it’s not the first burger chain to come to mind when I’m jonesing for some cheesy beef goodness. Eat it? I guess.

Freddy’s Frozen Custard & Steakburgers
8843 Potranco
San Antonio, TX 78245
(210) 520-2436

Hola burger readers! Sorry it’s been awhile but i’ve been spring breakin and you know what that means…BURGERS! I’ve had some really good new, different, and supposedly “BEST” burgers. I’m gonna fill you in on my thoughts and let you know what new burger hotspots need to be devoured. While I work on that please enjoy this fascinating abridged history of American-centric warfare told through food and ofcourse CHEESEBURGERS. That’s right, the learning must continue! Hopefully afterviewing you can go start up a heated debate with that hot history major you’ve always wanted to talk to and go eat delicious burgers together! Eat on! 

As a burger joint should strive to be, Dan’s Hamburgers is a definite icon in Austin, TX. In big cities, like Austin and San Antonio, a good burger is usually hidden in the sprawl of the neighborhood. Slightly hidden to those not familiar with the area. Although word has spread about Dan’s, in the beginning it was a just a community burger joint. A place families went weekly, after a long day, after traffic and reports, school and work, Dan’s is there to be a burger oasis. A small business that means a big deal to a lot of people.

What you might see a lot is that Dan’s Hamburgers is a good burger but not the best. I’ll agree with this statement, but it was a damn good burger. Adequately sized, a did inhale the whole thing. I ate it all and didn’t have room or all the delicious onion rings. I loved the place, I loved the food, I loved the cafeteria like seating. The service is quick and the burgers have the taste of a well worked grill in them. The hickory sauce does not overwhelm the burger, just adds a nice hint of flavor. It reminded me a lot of my original burger love at the Malt House in San Antonio. They serve curly fries as well as regular fries, and onion rings that are pretty good. I dare say that Dan’s does make the best burgers list in Austin, and in a smaller town would be number one. The price for the taste is a deal in my eyes. And the feel of the community is a nice treat. I ate it, you should definitely EAT IT.

Dan’s Hamburgers
5602 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78751-1058
Phone: (512) 459-3239