If you know me then you know I love cheeseburgers! If Burger King had a “Burger Queen” then she would be me. You name it; I have tried it. From all the national chains like McDonalds, Burger King, Whataburger, etc. to Five Guys, In N Out, Champs, Sparkle, Miller, and Smashburger. To portabella veggie cheeseburgers, Leonard’s, a plethora of food-truck burgers, including the famous Foreign Policy doughnut burger, and Waffle Bus fryder Cheeseburgers – I’ve even had a goat cheeseburger in Europe! Yes you can call me the “Bubba Gump” of cheeseburgers.
So could you imagine my lack of enthusiasm when one of my favorite days rolled by?! Here it was September 18th, National Cheeseburger Day, and there wasn’t an exciting bone in my body. I wanted a good juicy cheeseburger with everything on it! Disheartened, I Facebook-ed my problems, only to have to face my problems. Every suggestion I received did nothing for me because I had already been there. Then around noon, when my amazing boyfriend called me and said, “Why don’t we make our own cheeseburgers? We could periscope it, make our own recipe, we could even use ground turkey instead for healthier options.” How could I refuse? The more I thought about it the more creative ideas began to flow. I could record it as well for my YouTube show “Its National Day,” talk about how I didn’t want to revisit a spot so shopping and making it a cool date night was definitely the way to go.
Then I received the tweet “Have you ever been to Big Belly’s?” Ugh! I thought, I hadn’t been there. I can’t lie on camera so I decided to go visit to say I’ve been, get one customers reaction and return to business as usual. However, the burger world had other plans for me.
First, before even sinking my teeth inside of one of their exquisite burgers I noticed that the atmosphere was extremely millennial conducive. At every table there were charging stations (USB compatible), TVs from every angel, and football paraphernalia everywhere! I felt like I was back in college. After going back and forth, the manager, Howard, convinced me to try their signature burger. The burger was the circumference of my hands side-by-side. That’s the only possible way to describe the monstrosity that set in front of me. Paired with seasoned fries and watermelon Kool-Aid, this Big Belly Burger (knife in center) with lettuce, pickles, onions, mustard, mayo, ketchup, and of course cheese, took me back to childhood.
I began to smile as I cut a triangle out of the burger and made myself “A piece of burger” to intake. As I looked over the meat I could see the seasonings as I glanced over at Howard’s smiling face. “We grind our meat to perfection with our seasonings, its like meatloaf on a bun,” he said with cocky grin, as he knew my taste buds were in for a rare treat. I took a bite, and immediately understood. Meatloaf on a bun! As big as the burger was (1 pound after cooking), you would think the meat would be dry and the bun soggy. Not so. It was the juiciest, most seasoned burger I had ever tasted that wasn’t literally made in a home. The toasted bun was soft where needed. The toppings were fresh and crisp. I immediately hopped on Periscope! I had to tell everyone about Houston’s hidden gem located in Beyonce’s old neighborhood of 3rd Ward!
If you haven’t been to Big Belly’s I suggest you go ASAP! If cheeseburgers aren’t your thing, don’t worry; Big Belly’s caters to its fans with chicken burgers, wings, jalapeno bombers, boneless wings, potato skins, fried fish, coconut shrimp, and now Cajun boiled shrimp. They even have turkey burgers! Stop by for a burger or Monday Night Football! Either way it’s a win, win!
Follow them on Twitter @bigbellysbrgr.