New owner, new spirit at Guy Fieri’s Food Network favorite burger grill in Arlington
The Original Chop House Burgers got big.
Then it got small.
Then it got sold.
Twelve years after the small burger grill near UT Arlington put the city on the Food Network “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” map, the Original Chop House has new owners and a new spirit but lots of the original flavor.
The menu is larger now, adding breakfasts, chicken-and-waffles Greek salads and kebabs to the lineup of seven chargrilled burgers.
When you park at 1700 W. Park Row Drive — a return to the original location — the first thing you smell is the charcoal grill, delivering the flavor of a home-grilled burger.
A full bar is scheduled to open next week.
At lunch one day this week, a Chop House Burger was a near-perfect rendition of the original gourmet brisket-blend bacon-cheddar burger that caught Guy Fieri’s attention in 2011.
It’s now also available with an added avocado topping as a garden burger, a UTA favorite. And this might be one of the best garden burgers around.
The charcoal grill and steak sauce bring plenty of flavor, either with or without the applewood bacon.
New owner Gouhar Ragy Hanna and partners have also accomplished the remarkable: They took founder Kenny Mills’ excellent Original Chop House pies and made them better.
A chocolate “pie” this week was more of a sundae pie. Chocolate and crust were topped with ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
Pecan pie is the big seller. The Original Chop House has kept the East Texas “sawdust pie.” Bread pudding has been a daily special.
Based on diners’ photos, the breakfasts look promising. There’s a green chile-cheddar omelet, split-and-grilled biscuits, pancakes or waffles and an “Italian” breakfast sandwich (but it’s on Texas toast).
The Original Chop House Burgers is open for breakfast through dinner daily; 682-213-2253, facebook.com/chefkennymills.
Arlington chef Mills joins Mas Tacos
Mills is now helping owner Melissa Cuellar at Mas Tacos, 2012 S. Cooper St., a drive-up taco stand in a former Sonic Drive-In north of Pioneer Parkway across from the Showdown bar.
Cuellar also owns Boss Burgerz, 1905 E. Arkansas Lane, and Daiquiri Den in Grand Prairie, Mills said.
Mas Tacos is a straight-up taco shop with a choice of 12 fillings. Choices also include huge quesadillas on fresh, griddled flour tortillas, burritos and carne asada fries.
(Yes, the word “más” needs an accent mark. But Google doesn’t get along with diacritical marks, so — no más.)
Mas Tacos serves regular, strawberry or mango margaritas to go; 682-252-4073, mastacosdfw.menu.
This story was originally published July 20, 2023 at 5:30 AM.
