Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
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 in Houston is the 1939 corner-store-turned-burger-shack on Dennis Street in Midtown, with the Grim burger, weekday breakfast.
OrderThe Grim (a Hatch chile burger with American cheese, jalapenos and house sauce).
TipCash and card. Closed weekends. Sit at the picnic tables outside; the indoor counter is a single bench.
Eight Row Flint in Houston is the Heights icehouse from Agricole Hospitality in a converted Citgo gas station on Yale Street, with brisket tacos.
OrderBrisket tacos, the frozen-tied-with-Topo-Chico margarita, queso fundido.
TipThe patio under the old gas station canopy is the seat. East End second location for a different crowd.
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.
OrderThe chocolate chip cookie warm with milk. Whichever pizza is on. Salad of the day at lunch.
TipBrunch on weekends draws a 90-minute line. Weekday lunch is the move. Order an extra dozen cookies for home.
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.
OrderBrisket and a jalapeno pork sausage link. Jambalaya. Pecan pie to close.
TipMultiple Goode Company locations across Houston exist. The Kirby flagship is the original and the only one with the screened porch.
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