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Heresy in Cowtown

4:45 PM Mon, Apr 14, 2008 |  | 
Bill Addison    E-mail  |  News tips

Kincaids, photo by Irwin Thompson.jpgEd Levine, founder of seriouseats.com, came to town yesterday to cover the Pillsbury Bake-Off. He got a tour of Fort Worth chow yesterday evening from Robb Walsh of the Houston Press (who was in town to give a couple talks), and Levine blogged about their adventures here.

As mentioned in his post, Ed was not happy about missing out on the hamburgers at Kincaid's original location. I've been meaning to get there, too, after seeing the Star-Telegram story about a lease dispute that may cause Kincaid's to move.

Off he and I went to Kincaid's today.

File photo of Tom Lowe of Ft. Worth biting into a Kincaid's cheeseburger.

The restaurant's interior is a wonderful time-warp, with cafeteria-green walls, utilitarian seating and walls covered with articles.

"I love it here!" says Ed, who's a great, no-nonsense New Yorker. We walk to the back of the restaurant to the counter and place our order. It's 1 p.m. and the lunch rush has largely diminished.

Ed's smile drops when he spies the kitchen grill, where burgers are pre-cooked in rows, awaiting their final destination.

"Hey, can we get our burgers cooked fresh?" Ed asks one woman at the counter. The woman nods and heads to the grill to ask the cook to throw a couple fresh patties on for our large bacon cheeseburgers.

Someone calls Ed's name when the burgers are ready. They're lightly wrapped in paper and bagged. We unfold our loaded monsters, Ed takes a couple quick pictures and we dig in. We both consider for a minute as we chew.

"Well, it's a good American burger," I say.

"Yeah," says Ed cautiously.

Then we start to dissect. They're cooked nearly to well-done - fine, we didn't expect any different. But neither is the meat particularly juicy ... or seasoned. If it weren't for the bacon on top, they might have needed salt.

All in all, we're both slightly disappointed and bewildered. Isn't this the burger that has won all sorts of accolades over and over? I mean, it was a fine burger ... but not, from this experience, legendary. And, I gotta tell you, it was good to have another food writer there, particularly one who has eaten his way through the world of hamburgers. Because I felt a little heretical: We should, by all accounts, LOVE this burger, right? Are we crazy? Does everyone else in the state still worship this place?

We joked that Bud Kennedy at the Star-Telegram would put out hits on us for our reaction. Then we went to Angelo's for barbecue (scored some rockin' moist brisket) and finally to Dutch's for a burger comparison. I'm in too much of a food coma at the moment to write more.

I'll update this post when Ed's account of our afternoon goes up on his site tomorrow.

BELATED UPDATE: Here's Ed's take, as promised.



Comments

I wanted to love that burger SO badly too, given the atmosphere, but there is no love for Kincaid's. It has an air of the emperor's new clothes...like, everybody wants to like it so much that nobody's going to point out that you can do better at Chili's.


Take him to Wingfield's in South Dallas - now THAT is the best burger in North Texas!


I don't think it's heretical at all. I have heard it said when it comes to Fort Worth hamburgers you are either a Kincaid's person or a Fred's person, as in Fred's Texas Cafe. And yes IMHO, Fred's is far superior.


So with you here, Freckle Face.


Yeah, PS? Not some of my finest prose in this post: "The restaurant's interior is a wonderful time-warp, with cafeteria-green walls, utilitarian seating and walls covered with articles."

Ouch. Sorry, gang. Like I said: Food coma.


The Fred Burger kicks Kincaid's butt.

Particularly the Diablo Burger.


OVERRATED!!......Kincaid's burgers are always under seasoned and overcooked.







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