Best Burgers in Dallas 2011

I am constantly searching for the best burger in Dallas—tasting new and unranked burgers, evaluating everyone else's bests lists, and re-tasting my own best list to make sure each burger is holding its rank. When I re-tasted my (formerly) No. 2 Meddlesome Moth burger this week I realized some other burgers haven't been holding their rank, and it was time for a total re-ranking of my list. See if any of my favorites match yours.

Bread Winner's burger did not make the rankings.

Let me preface by saying I rate burgers based on their standard ingredients so that comparisons can be equal. Standard burger ingredients are:

• Beef patty
• Bun
• Cheese
• Ketchup 
• Mustard
• Mayonnaise
• Lettuce
• Tomato
• Pickle
• Onion

Variations on these standard ingredients are fair game, for example, chardonnay mustard counts. It's okay if not every topping is used; however, these rankings are not influenced by side dishes or toppings whose basic variation falls outside this list, like bacon, BBQ sauce, chili or eggs.

If there is a holy grail standard burger it would be a golden brown, butter-toasted, freshly baked white bun (with no seeds) supporting a juicy and flavorful beef patty cooked to a medium doneness, then topped with a throughly melted, quality cheese (not American cheese), Heinz ketchup, special mustard (pretty much anything other than yellow mustard), Hellman's mayonnaise, 1 perfectly-sized ripe tomato slice, 3 homemade pickle slices, 1 thin slice of raw red onion or limply sautéed yellow onions, and 1 perfectly sized leaf of fresh lettuce that is not iceberg lettuce. Some restaurants do some ingredients better than this. These tend to be the burgers that get ranked.

Let's take a look at the past rankings before we get to the better stuff:

Formerly No. 1

My former Best Burger in Dallas, the TABC Gourmet burger. This was taken on July 2, 2010.

I should have seen this unseat coming because my last several burgers at Thomas Avenue Beverage Company (TABC) weren't as good as they were last year, and my foodie friends have reported B+ experiences. The problem is not that this burger has gotten worse or someone else's is better; their problem is consistency. Sometimes the bun is basted in a glorious herb butter and sometimes it's not. Often times I have to ask for the tarragon mustard that is supposed to come with it. I suspect the root of these problems is that all their waiters and chefs don't know that there is a big difference between their "TABC Gourmet" angus sirloin burger and their regular burger. That difference is the gap between an unranked burger and the No. 1 spot in all of Dallas. When they make the Gourmet burger right, I still think it may be the best burger in Dallas, but my last photo shows that I haven't had a proper one since July 2, 2010, so now I forget how good it tastes. This opened up room for the competition to move up in the rankings. TABC is now No. 2.

Formerly No. 1-B

Angry Dog is perhaps better known for their namesake hot dog, but the burger here is a hidden holy grail. I like that it comes with the option of raw or grilled onions for no extra charge. For the longest time I had this burger tied with TABC, until I realized the meat is always pretty salty. I think this is what makes it taste better, but one time it was too salty even for me and I realized this is probably not a favorable quality for a lot of people. This consistent saltiness allowed TABC to gain a slight edge. Having to pay for parking also makes me not want to get this burger very often.

Formerly Tied at No. 2

Twisted Root's standard burger is pretty decent, and it comes with pickled pink onions, but the meat is lacking a bit in juiciness and quality, leaving just enough room for others to outrank them. Their huge notoriety and outstanding flavors are mostly in their crazy toppings. Twisted Root has been featured on Travel Channel's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives (click to watch on YouTube), and they definitely have the best variety of meat, crazy toppings, and side dishes in Dallas—from venison and kangaroo burger meat to Deep Ellum goat cheese and fried pickles—but as I said at the beginning, these things don't influence this ranking.

Formerly No. 3

Village Burger Bar is one that's easy for me to go back to over and over, so I can vouch for their consistency. It's a holy grail burger with bonus points for basil mayo and chardonnay mustard. They have a great variety of toppings (second to Twisted Root) but again, this does not influence the rankings here. Something is lacking in the flavor of the actual burger meat, and this keeps it from being No. 1.

Formerly No. 4

Fuddrucker's is the only largely franchised burger to make the list. The lettuce is dreaded iceberg, but if you order the Prime beef patty then it's worthy of ranking at the bottom of this list. They get major points for letting you dress your own burger with lettuce in shredded or leaf form, and tomatoes and onions in diced or sliced form, plus other usual and unique toppings. This means you can get the flavor proportions just right for your tastes, which goes a long way towards making Fuddrucker's the best burger YOU have eaten.

Now on to the new rankings!

OLD RANKINGS                             NEW RANKINGS

 

Currently No. 1

Meddlesome Moth's Burgundy Pasture Burger, grass-fed beef with Tillamook cheddar cheese.

Somewhere between my second bite and the last bite it hit me that Meddlesome Moth is my new Best Burger in Dallas. This was my third amazing burger here since last fall, so with some consistency over duration now established, I kept asking myself with each bite, "Could this possibly taste any better? Is there anything I would change?" The answer is no. Just look at those thinly sliced red onions, a perfectly sized red, ripe tomato slice on a single, crisp, green spinach leaf. The Tillamook cheddar is perfectly melted, even all the way down and around the sides of a thick, juicy grass-fed beef patty. Then there's the pickles; I don't know if they are homemade, but they're thickly cut and not dill. They're differently delicious. The white bun is butter toasted on the outside and soft on the inside, with no seeds. It doesn't come with fancy mustard or mayo, but I don't think that would improve this burger because the fresh flavors of the main ingredients are too good to complicate with bottled condiments.

Coincidently, last November I ranked Meddlesome Moth as the fifth best restaurant in Dallas in an article I collaborated on for ILiveInDallas.com. This Best Burger in Dallas solidifies that ranking.

Currently No. 2
TABC's Gourmet burger moves down to No. 2, but still holds a solid rank. Even without all the right toppings, it's still an awesome burger.

Currently No. 3

Wingfield's burger is a super juicy, heavy and absolutely delicious monstrosity.

Wingfield's Breakfast and Burgers is one I forgot to include in my old rankings; it should have been somewhere in the middle. This burger is entirely about the meat. It is the juiciest and by FAR the biggest, heaviest burger patty in DFW, and perhaps anywhere else. The meat is so fresh and tasty it's like crack, you want more, and more you can have because the burger is probably a full pound of meat, no joke. It's served in a single-wide trailer in South Dallas—cash only—so crack may very well be the secret ingredient. Whatever you do, don't order the double or triple meat patty!

Currently No. 4

Company Cafe's grass-fed burger

Company Cafe just opened in early April 2011, but this burger is so good I've had it three times in four weeks! The grass-fed burger meat is really juicy and full of flavor, the tomato is always perfectly ripe, and the cheese is freshly shredded. They get bonus points for letting you choose to have your burger on Texas toast, wheat bread or a gluten-free bagel. I predict this burger will be in the local press nominations for best burger in Dallas for 2011.


Burger's That Didn't Make the Cut

SmashBurger is pretty delicious, but the meat quality is mid-grade and nothing else makes up for it.

In case you were wondering, "...but have you tried the burger at____?" let me try to answer that and then please let me know if there's one that's not one mentioned below.

There are a few burgers around DFW that I have not had and I know I need to try them, and those are The Grape, Keller's, Kenny's and Kincaid's.

Here is a list of DFW burgers I've eaten and for one reason or another they did not make the rankings: Bread Winners, SmashBurger, Jake's, Airways Hamburger, The Londoner, Sherlock's, Maple and Motor, Snuffer's, Scotty P's, Uptown Pub & Grille, Uptown Bar, Purple Cow, Dream Cafe, Hully & Mo, Tootsie's, Five Guys, J. Black's, The Loon, B.J.'s, Red Robin, In-N-Out Burger, Cock & Bull.

Now let the burger debates and suggestions begin! What's your favorite standard burger in Dallas?