Hill's Cafe

Fans of the Odyssey may start noticing a trend in the burger places we are visiting to start out the new year. We are trying to hit all the Austin burger joints that are over 50 years old, and Austin has quite a few of them: Sandy's, Dirty's, Hut's, The Frisco Shop, and tonight's choice, good old Hill's Cafe founded in the great year of 1947. We figure we need to know the classics before we can start discovering some new classics.

And Hill's Cafe is a classic holding up the far southern end of South Congress. It traces its founding back to Charles Goodnight, the old chuck wagon pioneer. While that may be a bit of stretch, if the feel of an old trail ride exists anywhere in Austin today, well Hill's may lay claim to it, though I don't know if they had HDTV's back then. FriedEd instantly liked the place as the parking lot has a couple of old signs and neon (neon is key for a good old fashioned burger joint) and the customer is greeted with a practical museum of Austin history at the entrance. The walls are covered nearly top to bottom with newspaper clippings and old photos telling a story of an Austin that is fast disappearing, but not at Hill's. Here the booths are named after Austin personalities, be it the governor and his wife or the favorite local weatherman. Restaurants like Hill's, along with Threadgills on Barton Springs and Cisco's on East 6th perform an important local service: they preserve the past on their walls and put food in the belly that has passed the test of time. If you like history and food, start at Hill's Cafe. But is this a burger blog or what history dorks?!

So, the story goes that Hill's Cafe shut down around 1987, only to be reopened in 2001. The owner, Bob, put his sweat and tears into bringing back the good home cooking style that the old Hill's Cafe was known for. But, when his first customer ordered a burger, Bob realized he had done nothing to make a good burger and the customer complained. As a result, Bob sat down determined to create Austin's best burger, and he came pretty damn close. We can not yet say if it is the best, at $8.95 it is certainly one of the most expensive, but give us a year or two of eating all of Austin's hamburgers before we answer.

The burger, as Sage says, is "a knife and fork burger." It comes big and open on the plate with lettuce, tomatoes, pickles and onions with a little cup of mayonnaise for you to spread. The ingredients are fresh, the patty is thick and the bun is made from potato bread and is fluffy and sweet. FriedEd liked the bun the best and figured it might go really well by itself. The fries are thick cut potatoes, fried and seasoned. They overwhelm the mouth with potato but make a statement in their creation. Good job Hill's on a well thought out and creative burger. You have amped up criteria. Our expectations were high going in as the Statesman had named Hill's as the best burger in Austin and I have to say we did not leave hungry, or disappointed.

Burger: 93
Fries: 87

Dare I say I think FriedEd's write up was, well almost perfect. Hill's Cafe, to me, epitomizes the true essence of the classic South Austin culture that has become so famous. South Austin has, among many things, three aspects that make it truly authentic: live music, eclectic vibe, and that true "Keep Austin Weird" feeling that gives this town it soul, and ladies and gentlemen Hill's Cafe is it's model citizen.

Hill's is equipped with a legendary stage that ranks as one of the best live music venues in Austin. The clientele range from hipsters, to families, to businessmen, to ranch hands and more. We concluded this would be the perfect place to bring someone who is new to town in for a meal, a show and some good old Lonestar Beer.

When it comes to the meal there is plenty to choose from but as we love our burgers we dove in to this legend head first. The burgers were what I referred to all night as a "classic backyard grill burger." A large bun, lettuce, tomato, pickle, huge patty and sauces on the side. It was as if I was grilling and putting my burger together only their meat was well seasoned and juicy and delicious.

The fries were thick cut wedges that had seasoning all over them. Free bread and giant sodas only added to the splendor. All in all if you are visiting Austin and you want to know what good South Austin culture is all about you need only to hit one stop and Hill's Cafe on South Congress is your winner.

Burger 90

Fries 84