Scott’s

Scott’s Double Cowboy Burger Ronnie’s Frisco Burger Gene’s Bacon Cheeseburger

3. SCOTT’S 4. RONNIE’S 5. GENE’S

Scott’s is nothing more than a shack situated on Old Jacksboro Highway, painted blue, and surrounded by a buffer of intercoms to order from. It is the type of location that if you weren’t looking for it, you would completely pass it by. At 2:30 in the afternoon we pulled into a space as the third customer in the lot. Inside it appeared to be a single employee, taking orders, cooking, and running food to the vehicles outside. The majority of the 20 intercoms lay vacant for the entirety of our meal.

Once again, we asked the person taking our order what the most popular burger at the restaurant was. This time, the straight-forward answer we received from the previous location was not supplied.

“Well, people order all of them,” the man on the intercom assured us.

After a fair amount of poking and prodding, we were finally able to get an actual menu item by name, and naturally, it is what we decided to order.

“A lot of people get the Cowboy Burger, it sells pretty good,” the employee said, “Most people get it as double.”

Seeing clearly that he was trying to upsell the burger, we decided to indulge the man. We ordered a double Cowboy Burger. The Cowboy Burger comes dressed standard, again with tomato, lettuce and onion, but, it also comes topped with bacon, jalapenos, barbeque sauce and onion rings.

Morrison: Oh my god, this burger is what I’ve been missing, the barbeque and the onion ring kill it. Wright: I dig it, I don’t really like onion rings, but it works. There’s a spiciness to it, quite a bit of jalapenos, but it’s not too much.

Finely: But there’s also raw onion on it, like double onion, and I think it could do without that. Wright: It’s a little redundant. They did a good job with it, but it’s nothing mind blowing. Kind of like, I could get it from anywhere. Finley: It reminds me of a way better quality version of a Rodeo Burger from Burger King. Morrison: I think the bacon has a good crisp, it’s not soggy like it at other places. Finley: Oh yeah, terrific bacon. I’m not disappointed with this burger at all. Ronnie’s is a small burger place located in a strip mall on Midwestern Parkway. The storefront is hidden snuggly somewhere between a nail salon and a Little Caesar’s Pizza. The restaurant is narrow, maybe twenty-feet across, with a maze of no more than 25 tables between the entryway and the register at the back of the room.

We prompted the employee at the register with the question of what burger sells best at the restaurant. After a few moments the clerk said the Frisco Burger is among the most popular. After a slight misunderstanding as to what our order number was, we finally received our burger.

Note: At Ronnie’s Burger you receive both a printed receipt with an order number, and the stub of a hand-written receipt with a separate, different order number. The number that corresponds to the order is the stub of the written receipt. Learn from our mistake.

For those who don’t know, and to save the suspense, a Frisco Burger is a just a cheeseburger with chili on it. Ronnie’s Frisco Burger comes dressed in the standard fashion, with sliced tomato, diced onion, shredded lettuce and pickle. The top bun has the slightest smear of mustard. Gene’s is the hardest to find of all the mom and pop joints on this list. It’s located off Old Jacksboro Highway, on Holliday Road, a street just across from the Dog Patch neighborhood, home to Wichita Falls Flea Market, and otherwise classified as a residential area. Broken, dilapidated buildings surround Gene’s. The amount of shattered glass and boarded-up windows outnumbered the amount of windows still intact on the street. As we pulled into the lot, two men walked by shirtless, laughing loudly in the street. This is not where you would imagine a restaurant to be.

Walking into Gene’s, you immediately come across the kitchen on the left, openly visible, with the sound of burger grease spitting on the flat top. To the right is the dining area, not able to seat many more than the aforementioned Ronnie’s, only here the tables are claustrophobically placed side-by-side. If you aren’t lucky enough to get a booth seat, be prepared to become very friendly with the patrons on the table next to you. The bacon cheeseburger we ordered, on recommendation of the waitress, had the least awe-inspiring look of the day. It also comes standardly dressed, again with mustard, onion, lettuce and tomato.

Wright: I’m usually a guy that likes a plain burger, but the way all the ingredients come together really makes it bearable for me. Especially the chili, and I thought chili on a burger would be weird. Finley: It’s good, right? I think the chili could be better, and it makes the bun a soggy, but as a whole it’s pretty good. I would definitely get it without veggies next time. Morrison: I’d agree, I don’t usually like to mix fresh veg with chili, but I think the tomato kind of becomes part of the chili. Finley: I love the patty though, it doesn’t taste like the regular frozen patty you would get at a burger place. Morrison: I like the crust on the patty, the little crispy bits where they let it char really comes through to me. Wright: All in all it’s a pretty quality burger, I would definitely give it a solid seven.

1501 Midwestern Pkwy #114, Wichita Falls, TX 76302 (940) 766-2970

Wright: A lot of veggies on this one, a lot more than the last two. The pickle comes through a little more. Morrison: And mustard too, it’s not hiding from me as much as the other two. Wright: A lot of veg though, like, so much it’s falling out the back of the burger. Finley: The patty has a good crisp on it though; kind of like you were saying about Ronnie’s, the crispy bits are really tasty. Wright: The bacon is good. It’s not soggy, but it’s not as crispy as Scott’s. I really like it.

The burger doesn’t look that good, it actually looks pretty bad, with the vegetables falling out, and the way it’s just kind of thrown together, but it’s really well prepared. It might be my favorite so far. Finley: Disagree, it’s good, but it’s not great.

2310 Holliday Rd, Wichita Falls, TX 76301 (940) 767-1921