Birminghamâs best burgers: Our Top 5
If you’ve lived in Birmingham for more than 40 years, as some of us have, you’ve eaten a lot of burgers.
But the burger landscape has changed dramatically over the last decade or so. Everybody, it seems, has a burger on their menu these days.
Fine-dining restaurants. Taco trucks. Pizza places. Even doughnut shops.
So, the true, old-school burger joints have a lot of competition.
As part of our summer project to find the best eats in Birmingham and across Alabama, we’ve put together this (very subjective) list of our five favorite Magic City hamburgers.
And, as much as it pains us to do so, we’ve had to leave out some of our old favorites that we’ve gotten to know and grown to love over the years. But there is a new generation of burgers kings and queens that deserve some of that love, too.
From fifth to first, here are our top five Birmingham burgers:
The Bear Burger at the Travis Chicago-Style Polish Sausage and Bear Burger food truck is topped with melted American cheese, sauteed onions and a barbecue-like sauce.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])
5. Bear Burger at Travis Chicago-Style Polish Sausage & Bear Burger
You’ll need both hands — and a bear of an appetite — to try to tame this messy, mighty beast of a burger. Travis Chicago-Style Polish Sausage & Bear Burger is one of Birmingham’s original food trucks — if not the original — and you’ll find the familiar big red rig making the rounds all over town, from Avondale to Bessemer, Linn Park to Sam’s Club. The signature Bear Burger is a massive hunk of beef that is grilled on a well-seasoned griddle, blanketed with American cheese, smothered with sauteed onions, and then slathered with a barbecue-like sauce. The poor bun doesn’t stand a chance. (Note: The Travis truck gets around, but you can typically find it parked outside Saturn on 41st Street South in Avondale on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. Otherwise, go to their Facebook page to find out where it will be next.)
This Hero Cheeseburger at Hero Doughnuts & Buns is “stacked” with two all-beef patties and dressed with American cheese, onions, pickles and Cracked Sauce.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])
4. Hero Cheeseburger at Hero Doughnuts & Buns
3027 Central Ave. in Homewood; 1701 First Ave. South in Birmingham; and 314 Main St. in Trussville. herodoughnutsandbuns.com.
It is almost unfair that one of our favorite doughnut shops serves one of the best burgers in town, too. Birmingham chef Wil Drake debuted Hero Doughnuts at a pop-up event at Seasick Records seven years ago, and after partnering with the Pihakis Restaurant Group, his little start-up business has grown to include three brick-and-mortar locations around Birmingham, as well as others in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee. As the menu expanded to include not just doughnuts, but cheeseburgers and chicken sandwiches, too, the name evolved to Hero Doughnuts & Buns. At Hero, they prepare the dough for the buns using the same two-day-process involved in making the doughnuts, and, as much as we ooh and aah over those elegant, glorious Hero doughnuts, the Hero Cheeseburger is a tasty work of art, too. Perched on a soft, golden Brioche bun that’s studded with sesame seeds, the all-beef burger is complemented with American cheese, pickles, onions, and Hero’s house-made Cracked Sauce. If you prefer, do as we do and order it “stacked” with a second patty. And if you really want to take your burger game to the next level, let us recommend the Doughnut Burger, which is served between a sliced glazed doughnut instead of a bun. We kid you not.
RELATED: The secret to Hero’s doughnuts and buns? Brioche dough
The classic cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, pickles, American cheese and a house-made garlic aioli sets the standard at The Standard, which has locations in the Pizitz Food Hall in downtown Birmingham and in the Vestavia City Center in Vestavia Hills.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])
3. Cheeseburger at The Standard
1821 Second Ave. North, No. 188, in Birmingham and 700 Montgomery Highway, Suite 164, in Vestavia Hills. thestandardbhm.com.
One of the original tenants at The Pizitz Food Hall since it opened in 2017, The Standard delivers an old-fashioned cheeseburger that hits the happy medium between nothing fancy and an American classic. Young Shin, who operated the Pho Pho food stall next door to The Standard, bought the business from founder Matt Ralph three years ago, and Shin and his wife, Kookie Kim, opened a second location of The Standard south of town in the Vestavia City Center this spring. The Standard burger is ground in-house from a blend of chuck roast and brisket, and it is served on a potato roll with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles and a proprietary, garlic-aioli-like Standard Sauce. If you want to fancy it up, add bacon, pimento cheese, pickled jalapenos or a fried egg. Whatever you choose, we recommend you pair it with a side of The Standard’s golden, crispy tater tots.
The Hamburger Fonfon at Chez Fonfon in Birmingham, Ala., is topped with melted Comte cheese from the French Alps and served on a toasted Brioche bun. (Tamika Moore/[email protected])
2. Hamburger Fonfon at Chez Fonfon
2007 11th Ave. South in Birmingham. fonfonbham.com.
No Birmingham burger list is complete without mentioning the much celebrated and highly decorated Hamburger Fonfon at Chez Fonfon, the fancy but fun French bistro from James Beard Award-winning restaurateurs Frank and Pardis Stitt. The Cadillac of cheeseburgers, the Hamburger Fonfon features a grass-fed, house-ground Heritage Beef patty that is slightly seasoned with salt and pepper, lightly brushed with a little olive oil and cooked medium or medium-rare over an open-flame grill. It is crowned with melted Comté, a French alpine cheese similar to Swiss Gruyère, and served on a toasted Brioche bun that is dressed with grilled red onions, a leaf of Romaine lettuce, bread-and-butter pickles, and (when in season) an heirloom tomato slice. Like the Hamburger Fonfon, the crispy pommes frites that accompany it are transcendent.
RELATED: An ode to Alabama’s most celebrated burger
The Essential Burger at The Essential on Morris Avenue in Birmingham features a grass-fed beef patty served with lettuce, American cheese and Russian dressing on a Brioche bun.(Bob Carlton/[email protected])
1. The Essential Burger at The Essential
2018 Morris Ave. in Birmingham. essentialbham.com.
In the five years since chefs and co-owners Kristen Hall and Victor King opened their casual neighborhood café on Morris Avenue, The Essential has elevated the Birmingham dining scene with Hall and King’s creative takes on pastas, proteins and pastries. At the same time, they have raised the Birmingham burger bar, too. The Essential Burger is an inspired and enhanced reinvention of the McDonald’s Big Mac, with an 8-ounce, grass-fed Bear Creek Farm beef patty, melted American cheese, charred onions, pickles, shredded lettuce, house-made Russian dressing, and a smear of Dijonnaise served on a sesame-seed Brioche bun that is delivered fresh from Hall and King’s neighboring bakery, Bandit Pâtisserie. True to its name, it is the essential Birmingham burger.
More about Alabama burgers:
An Alabama burger like none other
The Alabama burger joint that’s like a trip back in time
63 years of memories at an old-school Alabama burger and shake shack
The little country store with one of the best burgers in Alabama