Hut's Hamburgers

The joint has an unusual cast of characters: Allen Freed, Wolfman Jack, Fats Domino, Ritchie Valens, Mr. Blue, Buddy Holly. All on a bun. These are a few of the 20 named burgers that distinguish Hut’s, the laid-back restaurant that lies in the shadows of one of Austin’s fast-exploding trendy areas at Sixth and Lamar streets. But it wasn’t always that way. The spot we know and love is a marriage of two Austin traditions. One was a building, launched in 1939 as Sammie’s Drive-In on West Sixth Street. The other was the hamburger business of Homer “Hut” Hutson, which opened the same year on South Congress Avenue. Sammie Joseph, the first proprietor, remodeled the drive-in in 1947, adding the east dining room, and again in 1954, adding the main dining room. The business was sold twice before Hutson bought the lease in 1969. Hut’s had spent 20 years on South Congress before moving in 1959 to the location where GSD&M’s Idea City now sits. A decade later it moved to the present site, where the business changed hands a few times until Chuck Gist and Mike “Hutch” Hutchinson bought it in 1981. It escaped the 1981 flood which devastated the surrounding Shoal Creek area and remains a burger haven. Try the Ritchie Valens ($4.95), a hamburger with guacamole, grated cheese, chopped tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, mayonnaise and mustard or the Mr. Blue ($4.95), with bleu cheese dressing, Swiss cheese, bacon and lettuce. And don’t skip the big, thick, pepper onion rings ($2.50 for a full order), which are among the best in the city.

I recommend the longhorn beef. Half the fat, half the calories, twice the protein.

I had never truly tasted a hamburger until I ate at this restaurant.

I heard the stories, but when when I bit into my food I still had the reaction of, “damn! This is a good burger!”

Best. Hamburgers. EVER.

Love Hut’s Hamburger! I will be back!!