Diner Style Burgers Head to Head
Diner style burgers are fried in their own fat on a flattop grill. At home you would use a skillet on the stove top to achieve the same effect with an 80/20 beef patty or even a mix of ground beef and ground pork. A diner is pretty much defined by red vinyl upholstery on straight back chairs and fixed stools set before formica topped tables and counters with some chrome trim to complete the picture.
Also black and white tile floors and upright stainless steel napkin holders and plenty of condiments on the table. Both Louie’s and Dearman’s do a fine job with their burgers so we’re just doing a little compare and contrast to remind you which one to pick to fit the mood you are in. Call it fine tuning. Louie’s offers a 4 oz and 8 oz patty while Dearman’s falls right in between with a 6 oz. Both use a nice, seedless white bread bun with lettuce, pickles, and tomatoes. Dearman’s uses a slice of yellow onion raw, while Louie’s onions are diced and sauteed. Both come with mustard and mayo on the standard dressing setup, but Louie’s offers a choice of alfalfa sprouts instead of lettuce and also has avocado available as a topping. Louie’s also has cheddar cheese where Dearman’s does not. What Dearman’s does have is a drugstore legacy of sodas, malts, shakes, and root beer floats that Louie’s does not have. Louie’s tends more towards beer these days to go along with the late night omelets and pancakes and waffles since Louie’s is a 24 hour shop and Dearman’s is open from 11 am -8pm.
We’re not trying to pick one over the other. They are both worth a visit just for their dedication to an old school delivery of a fat fried burger. In fact, either one is a perfect place to start your personal perfect burger survey to see which burger in BR is your favorite. I guess my favorite burger of all time was the one at Bonaventure’s Landing on False River. I tried for the longest time to duplicate that gooey, run down your wrist goodness until I finally had the insight to set all the fixings out on the counter before heading off to run errands for a couple of hours. Everything reached room temp so when the patty was done and everything was slapped together there wasn’t a crisp or cold element involved. Super tasty. And very messy. One of the reasons I really like Louie’s Big Cheesy Lou is you can get it with sprouts and avocados which is close to the Austin Special they used to serve at Mad Dog and Beans on Guadalupe right by UT back in the early eighties. That one was charbroiled with fresh guac, sharp cheddar, and sprouts. The last time I was there when Mad Dog and Beans was still around, I had a feeling the girlfriend I was going to Austin to visit and I weren’t going to last much longer, so I ate three Austin Specials since I didn’t know when or if I would ever be back. Good move since that did turn out to be my last visit.