In Fort Worth, we have all-star burgers. One was ‘Best Burger in America.’
Our burger cravings began at a west side grocery.
Kincaid’s Hamburgers, a 75-year landmark, was once named “Best Burger in America” and was the topic of a book, “The Perfect Hamburger.”
Long before chefs made veggie “burgers” or added brie or truffles, Kincaid’s butcher O.R. Gentry was simply grinding fresh beef trimmings and making thick, hand-packed hamburgers the old Texas homestyle way — with lettuce, tomato, pickle, mustard and optional American cheese.
It was Gentry who came up with the idea of selling burgers in 1964, just as a meat-market sideline for the long-established Kincaid’s Grocery, 4901 Camp Bowie Blvd.
Kincaid’s quickly took hold and went on to become an all-time Fort Worth legend, along with Angelo’s Barbecue (1958) and Joe T. Garcia’s Mexican Dishes (1935).
In the 1960s, Kincaid’s was named one of America’s two best hamburgers by Life Magazine (along with Cassell’s in Los Angeles) and again in a 1980s chefs’ poll (along with Perry’s in San Francisco). In the 1970s, when both Texas Monthly and the Star-Telegram launched best-burger polls, Kincaid’s came out on top.
The burgers are as good as ever. They start with hormone-free and antibiotic-free beef, freshly ground in-house and patted onto the flat-top griddle behind what used to be the grocery store meat counter.
The rows of grocery shelves have given way to dining areas. But the store doesn’t look terribly different from the 1970s.
The toppings are the same. The tomatoes are juicy. (Tip: Ask for the bun to be toasted on the griddle.)
Kincaid’s has a bigger menu now, including chili burgers, homemade onion rings and a pimiento-bacon “Cowtown Burger” with grilled jalapenos and onions.
But the basic cheeseburger remains the definitive Kincaid’s burger, now in two sizes.
(Yes, there’s a grilled chicken option and chicken filets.)
Also, If you’re curious what the original Kincaid’s looked like, there’s a near-twin three blocks west.
Roy Pope Grocery, currently under remodeling at 2300 Merrick St., is even older. It opened in 1944 before Pope and Kincaid teamed up to open the Camp Bowie Boulevard store as Pope-Kincaid Grocery. They later split.
It serves a similar burger but still has grocery shelves, checkout stands and a full grocery deli with fried chicken, sandwiches and other entrees.
(What other city in America has two old grocery meat-market grills within three blocks?)
Kincaid’s is open for lunch and dinner weekdays and Saturdays, and lunch Sundays. (Suburban locations in north Fort Worth, Arlington and Southlake stay open all day Sundays.)
The original Kincaid’s has an address on Camp Bowie Boulevard, but it’s actually on Collinwood Avenue at Eldridge Street; 817-732-2881, kincaidshamburgers.com.
Dutch’s Hamburgers
Dutch’s Hamburgers wraps itself in so much TCU football history and lore that you forget it only opened in 2007.
The name is a tribute to late TCU coach Dutch Meyer, a national Hall of Famer known for telling teams to “fight ‘em till hell freezes over, then fight ‘em on the ice.”
Co-founder Louis Lambert’s father, Hal, played for Meyer’s Frogs. So Lambert made the burger grill feel like something out of the 1950s, although the burgers are definitely a newer style.
Dutch’s won the former DFW.com “Burger Battle” with newer burgers like the bacon-blue cheeseburger with chipotle mayo or the “vaquero” bacon-cheddar burger with fried onion and jalapeno strings.
The basic burger is a classic: fresh beef with shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mustard and mayo, with a choice of seven cheeses on a Hawaiian-style sweet-sourdough bun.
Dutch’s also serves some of the city’s best chili con carne, along with sliders, chicken sandwiches and salads. An adjacent “burrito bar” serves tacos, nachos and burritos.
Dutch’s is open for lunch and dinner daily at 3009 S. University Drive; 817-927-5522, dutchshamburgers.com.
Fred’s Texas Cafe
First, of all, don’t ask for Fred.
If you go to Fred’s Texas Cafe and ask for Fred, the server will sorrowfully bow his or her head and say, “I’m sorry, but Fred has passed on.”
The cafe has long outlived the family dog in the name. The dog’s owners, Gari and J.D. Chandler, took over the ramshackle cafe at 915 Currie St in 1978, still looking the way it did in 1950 when it opened after a devastating west side flood.
In 1990, son Terry Chandler came back from the Marines, and Fred’s came to life as a counterculture burger hangout.
Chandler brought a free-wheeling mindset, adding late hours, more drinks, spicier dishes and the restaurant’s signature “Fred Burger” and hotter “diablo” and poblano burgers.
Chandler described Fred’s as a “blue-collar greasy spoon with a lot of white-collar infiltrators.”
Until recent years, Fred’s was the burger-and-plate-lunch cafe for an industrial area and a clandestine beer-drinking hangout for coaches before high school football games at nearby Farrington Field.
When the Crockett Row shopping center went in next door, Fred’s refused to budge and became the eccentric holdout of old-time Texas in the middle of new restaurants and bars.
Fred’s is also known for its queso and loaded nachos, but the favorite remains the Fred Burger with fries.
A newer suburban location is open for lunch daily at 2730 Western Center Blvd., 817-232-0111. The mothership is expected to reopen at 915 Currie St., 817-332-0083, fredstexascafe.com.
This story was originally published November 5, 2021 at 11:30 AM with the headline "In Fort Worth, we have all-star burgers. One was ‘Best Burger in America.’."
