Houston's most-loved gravity burger: a 1/3-pound hand-formed beef patty seared on the griddle, lavished with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, raw onion, mustard, and mayo on a toasted sesame bun.
Aubrey and Nona Lankford opened the Lankford Grocery & Market on Dennis Street in 1939 as a Fourth Ward mom-and-pop grocery; the family started cooking lunch for the neighbourhood and the burger became a fixture from the 1970s, with daughter Eydie Lankford Prior taking over operations. Anthony Bourdain featured the Lankford Burger on No Reservations in 2008; the line has not shortened since. Houstonians regularly call it the city's defining burger.
4 editor picks for Lankford Grocery Burger in Houston, ranked by editorial score. All Houston signature dishes · Lankford Grocery Burger across every city.
Lankford Grocery & Market ★ 4.4
midtown · 88 Dennis St, Houston, TX 77006
Lankford Grocery & Market in Houston is the 1939 corner-store-turned-burger-shack on Dennis Street in Midtown, with the Grim burger, weekday breakfast.
Eight Row Flint ★ 4.4
the-heights · 1039 Yale St, Houston, TX 77008
Eight Row Flint in Houston is the Heights icehouse from Agricole Hospitality in a converted Citgo gas station on Yale Street, with brisket tacos.
Tiny Boxwoods ★ 4.4
rice-village-upper-kirby · 3614 W Alabama St, Houston, TX 77027
Tiny Boxwoods in Houston is the garden-cafe on West Alabama in the Thompson + Hanson nursery, with a chocolate chip cookie that became a Houston object.
Goode Company Barbeque ★ 4.3
rice-village-upper-kirby · 5109 Kirby Dr, Houston, TX 77098
Goode Company Barbeque on Kirby Drive in Houston is Jim Goode's 1977 mesquite-smoked barbecue room, the city's introduction to commercial Texas barbecue.