The place with the flavorful burger, funky vibe, and fanatical following is finally getting the widespread props it deserves (even as the worshipful attention is making it more and more difficult to squeeze inside Fred’s Texas Cafe and find a place to eat these days).
In June, the Food Network featured the restaurant on “Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.” The following month, Texas Monthly placed Fred’s on its list of Top 50 hamburgers in the state.
And today the Fort Worth Star-Telegram echoes the obvious.
In a selfless display of devotion to their readers, newspaper staffers spent an exhaustive amount of time clogging their arteries to determine who makes the best burger in town. After swallowing more hamburgers than Wimpy after a night on the bong, they came to the same conclusion that Fort Worth Weekly’s ChowBaby figured out years ago.
Fred’s is best.
My own taste buds tingle with a fair amount of Fred-love, although if I had to name my favorite, I’d lean toward Dutch’s.
The “Dirty Love Burger” at the Love Shack is damn good too.
My colleague, Anthony Mariani, swears by the $2.80 hamburgers at Daybreak Café.
Here’s what Anthony looks like when he eats his burgers at Daybreak:
Is there any other way to eat a hamburger, El Jeffe? You use your hands. You use some ketchup. You concentrate. Pretty simple. (I am glad that I’ve clearly made a Warhol fan outta you, though.)
And “best” burger is so subjective, I hate to become part of any debate. But you need to factor in price. That winning Fred’s burger is, like, $12 or $13, while Daybreak’s DOUBLE-cheeseburger is $2.50 (plus tax), and there is just NO WAY that that Fred’s burger is $10 better than Daybreak’s.
Or any other decent, non-$13 burger for that matter.
Money is no object with me. Now pass me a diamond-studded napkin and let’s eat.