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As these beautiful weekends keep rolling around Central Texas, I continue searching for the perfect burger place for you to enjoy these days great days at. This weekend, Babe’s Old Fashioned Food is up for debate. Located on Fredricksburg just inside the loop and across from Crossroad’s mall stands a little burger and sports place. Serving San Antonians since 1987 at this location, this establishment definitely has its roots planted in making you salivate. While entering the line you’ll be tempted by cooler with an assortment of ice creams available. Once you realize that those same ice creams are the main ingredient in a shake, well, good luck resisting a shake is all.

Now Babe’s does have quite a menu with burgers, wings, and even pizza. Also, just by mentioning the place i get many a response in the line of “great fried pickles,” ” beer specials are pretty good there,” and “ah, the onion rings are great, ya gotta git em.” So it was definitely a contender for burger bliss.

I ordered the Guacamole Cheeseburger and the guac was pretty delicious. What wasn’t delicious was all that lettuce. I mean there was a lot that i had to shovel out. Once that matter was settled though, I must say this burger was pretty darn good. The bun was buttered and greasy, the patty was pretty juicy and over all everything came together pretty well on this burger. As good as it was, it was just that, good. Nothing jumped out too big about this burger. It is big. The onion rings were pretty darn scrumptious. Thin and seasoned so well, those onion rings at times out shined the burger. Fries were also a shining point of the meal. I couldn’t resist the shake and i don’t know if i ever will be able to because it was so darn good. Creamy, thick and picturesque, i’m ready for the summer with a shake like that.

Babe’s is a good stop for burger lovers. It’s got a sports/college atmosphere and the prices are pretty good, especially if you hit some of those lunch specials. I’m givin it a 7. Although not high on the list of eateries to return to I definitely suggest you EAT IT.

Babe’s Old Fashioned Food
4535 Fredericksburg Rd
San Antonio, TX
78201
210-732-6666

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Greetings burgermeisters! Let’s address the counter culture revolution, an American symbol of the working man, of coffee and pie, of darn good food being made on a time-seasoned grill.  My Austin burger review comes from a cafe that now inhabits one of Austin’s former legendary diners, now simply named, Counter Cafe. And trust me, it’s just that, a counter and a few tables, this tiny place open daily from 8am-4pm embodies the hole-in-the-wall-dive-joint entirely.  However tiny, patrons definitely don’t mind a wait to try some of the home diner style menu with a very refreshing gourmet twist. This place was brought to my attention by UT student by day, Lauren Miller, and her Aggie boyfriend, Sergio Guerrero, who highly recommended the burger and suggested staying away from the extra $3 bacon.

Counter Cafe, right off of Lamar and Sixth (across from Book People), is easy to miss.  But the tiny atmosphere creates an interesting warm feel, sometimes double sitting tables for need of the room (thanks to Austin and Texas hospitality, this wasn’t very awkward). Fast-moving and turning tables very quickly the diner definitely gives you an idea of the quick counter culture of Americana. In most restaurants the condiments are kept down to the standard mustard, ketchup, salt, pepper, and napkins always positioned in a clean and organized manner when turning tables.  Counter Cafe moves too fast to worry about these details and while the tables are clean, the array of sirracha, mayo, mustard, coarse sea salt, and ground pepper are all splayed about and ready to be used.

Not thinking twice about it I ordered the burger, sans bacon. My comrade however, a definite sucker for bacon in all its glory, went straight for the nitrate-free three dollar bacon. Ingredients are all natural, organic, and locally sourced when available.  You can order a wheat or white bun, sweet potato fries, cup of soup, seasonal fruit cup, or house salad.  I opted for a wheat bun and sweet potato fries, which Lauren highly recommended. I’ll tell you, as tiny as the place is and as gourmet as some of the other menu items are, they sure now how to make a simple, delicious burger.  I was amazed at how well it was cooked, the buttered and toasted bun, the fresh ingredients, and the interesting choice of bibb lettuce.  Pulling the ketchup and mayo from the condiment array and splattering them on the burger made it amazing.  The sweet potato fries had a perfect balance, not too sweet and seasoned with sea salt.  I devoured this baby whole, forced myself to go on to that one last delectable bite.  The Austin burger scene can be proud to add this to repertoire.  Although there was a bit of wait for the burger, you can see there are only two cooks in the kitchen with little more than elbow room. You can also openly see the care put into the food in as quick a manner as possible.

The reviews for this place in Texas Monthly’s issue of the 50 best burgers in Texas, Yelp, and the Austin Chronicle praise this little cafe. Going to give this swell joint an 8.5 and insist that you shove it in your mouth and EAT IT.

The Counter Cafe
626 N Lamar Blvd
Austin, TX 78703
(512) 708-8800
Hours: 8AM – 4PM Daily

thedeathkid Austin, Cheeseburger, Texas Austin, bacon, cheese, lettuce, onions, sweet potato fries, Texas, tomato

I did it, meatandcheesebetweentwobunslovers, I am going to, after most likely much too long, graduate from Texas State University! GO BOBCATS! Moving on, to celebrate this moment I headed to Bigz Burger Joint right off of 1604 and Huebner here in San Antonio, Texas. This burger barn on the side of the way arouses mouth juices from the parking lot. There’s an aroma of tasty that made me want to run to the door.

At Bigz the patties are a ½ lb, which is decently sized. And the cheeses offered are American, Cheddar, Pepper Jack, Swiss, and Blue Cheese. Certain toppings cost extra like beer braised onions, avocado, pineapple, etc. I went for a single knowing it’d be filling. I went with American cheese because I was feeling pretty classic, until I saw that you can “Make it Dirty,” and then I did! At Bigz Burger Joint “making it dirty” means they’ll fry an egg and slap that sexy baby on your burger. Who could say no to that?

Sipping on my Dr. Pepper I enjoyed the barnesque décor and fair-like seating. There’s outdoor seating available during permitting weather and what seemed to be a pretty rad Party Barn as well as a small basketball court. This place seemed to be on the up and up. Then I got my burger, after I accidentally tried to steal this guy Clayton’s burger (sorry! and thanks for being cool about it), and things got juicy. And disappointing. Bigz does toast their buns, offer some fresh vegetable toppings, and fry a pretty mean egg. Bigz does NOT seem to season their patty much. Everything around the area was pretty swell, but the main act was pretty lame. Soooooo, what’s that about Bigz? Although, I did hear the Applewood Bacon is pretty tasty and “making it dirty” is only an extra dollar, I’m gonna need some burger seasoning on my meat (that’s what he said?)

Do I recommend Bigz, meh. The atmosphere is pretty cool and the pricing is pretty pretty decent, but it was pretty cold in that huge space. It’s not my favorite and I probably won’t be back for awhile, I’ll just try and “make it dirty” elsewhere. EAT IT if you must, sigh.

Big’z Burger Joint
2303 N. Loop 1604 W.
San Antonio, Texas 78258

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It was a nice San Marcos day and I knew what was a calling me- a burger. So I headed down to Gordo’s Burger N’ Stuff on Wonderworld Dr. What I can tell you is that I enjoyed the N’ Stuff. The burgers however were a disappointment.

The Queso burger consists of a pleasantly spicy queso, pickles, onions, tomatoes, and mayo. I asked for no onions which went well, however my queso came on the side of the burger. Which is a little understable but also felt as though there’s an assembly line of burger templates waiting under a heater in the back and specialty burgers are accompanied by specialty toppings ON THE SIDE. Put it on there for me, I ordered it and am going to pay you because I was under the impression you would assemble my meal for me. Sorry, but unless it’s done well i do not condone the IKEA model for burgers. The bacon was pretty delicious but other than that the burger was nothing special and unfinished when i left the table. It took a lot to try and get to the fifth bite! Perhaps Gordo’s should rethink their burgers, the chicken fried steak I hear is delicious and the bacon cheese fries we got we’re tasty and I kept going back to them during the meal. If you end up at Gordo’s for a burger unfortunately I say don’t eat it!

Gordo’s II
102 Wonder World Dr.,
San Marcos, TX, 78666
(512) 878-8300

thedeathkid Cheeseburger, San Marcos bacon cheese fries, Cheeseburger, mayonnaise, onions, pickles, queso, spicy, tomato