BEST BURGERS

Best Burgers



Burger Spot
They'll make your Harris Ranch Angus beef burger as rare or well-done as you'd like at this 5-month-old eco-friendly place in Lake Highlands. Order at the counter and they'll bring the burgers, wrapped in red-and-white-checked paper, to the table. The Classic Burger is a well-proportioned, well-seasoned, juicy one-third-pound burger on a soft bun with lettuce, tomato, mustard or mayo, pickles and onion. The half-pound Wild Bill Burger, with onions, jalapeños and tomatoes in the patty and cheddar melted on top, is the way to go if you want to spice things up. Don't miss the zingy fresh lemonade.

9090 Skillman St. at Audelia Road, Dallas. 214-221-9206.



Chip's Old Fashioned Burgers
This 28-year-old favorite offers an excellent rendition of a good old-fashioned burger. You can order the one-third-pound patty cooked the way you like, but they'll likely just chargrill it as they wish. No matter; even if your medium-rare turns out medium-well, it's juicy and good, served on a soft poppy-seed bun with a couple of lettuce leaves, slices of ripe tomato, pickles, onions, mayo and mustard. It's the kind of place that might put you in the mood for a chocolate malt. There are also beer and wine, sandwiches and Tex-Mex dishes.

4530 Lovers Lane at the Dallas North Tollway, Dallas. 214-691-2447. www.chips-burgers.com.



Farnatchi Gourmet Oven
My favorite thing at this charming little Middle Eastern-slash-pizza place is its unusual hamburger. The highly seasoned patty has chopped onions and peppers blended into the meat, and a slice of mozzarella buried in it that melts gooily as the burger's grilled. Served on a good kaiser roll spread with a harissa-flavored mayonnaise, it's loaded with lots of arugula and ripe sliced tomatoes. The burger comes with lentil soup, salad or roasted rosemary potatoes. Bring your own wine; it'll go well with this one.

3001 Knox St. at Central Expressway, Dallas. 214-219-7200. www.farnatchi.com.



Fred's Texas Cafe
In a funky place with a honky-tonk feel and a party-down patio with live music, you can get what may be the lustiest sandwich around: the Diablo burger. Super juicy, wickedly spicy, it features a thick, half-pound patty roughly formed from good meat smothered with grilled onions, a whole chipotle chile in adobo, melted Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard and pickles. It comes with excellent hand-cut fries; Texas beers are on tap. For the fainter of palate, there's also the chipotle-free Fred burger.

915 Currie St., Fort Worth. 817-332-0083. www.fredstexascafe.com.



Maple and Motor
Jack Perkins' self-proclaimed "grease-stained tribute to low-class cool" was an instant cult hit when it opened last fall, and for good reason: Maple and Motor's burgers rock. They won't cook it to your desired temperature, but the rich patty, made from a blend of brisket and chuck, formed loosely in a ball and gently flattened on a vintage flat-top grill, has splendid flavor. It gets dressed up with traditional Texas fixings: red onions, dill pickle relish, mustard, tomato and shredded lettuce. Wash it down with a Shiner on tap or a "Jolly Rancher" iced tea. Arrive early, or prepare to wait. The place is wildly popular.

4810 Maple Ave., Dallas. 214-522-4400. www.mapleandmotor.com.



Neighborhood Services Tavern
The "cleaver and block" burger at Nick Badovinus' 4-month-old opened in March Henderson Avenue gastropub is quite simply outstanding. It's a cheffy burger, but not the overdone, froufrou kind. Instead, serious attention is paid to the meat; here it's a blend of chuck and brisket. But it's not just the patty; it's the whole package that tempts. It comes on a sesame bun dressed up with two kinds of aged cheddar, horseradish-spiked pickles and lots of caramelized onions in all the right proportions.

2405 N. Henderson Ave., Dallas. 214-827-2405.



Square Burger
On the square in McKinney, in a lovely, lofty 1929 building that was once a dry-goods store, a chef who got his chops as a sous-chef at Spago Beverly Hills is flipping some terrific burgers. Six-week-old Square Burger is a real restaurant, though the menu consists mostly of burgers, salads and sides; there's table service and a long, sleek bar that offers 30 well-chosen beers on tap (mostly North American). That burger, which is round, not square, comes on an ideal bun (a grilled Empire Bakery brioche number) with a thick pad of iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato and circles of red onion. But this burger is all about the beef, which Genesis Beef raises locally. It's grass-fed, antibiotic- and hormone-free and dry-aged 14 to 20 days before Genesis custom-grinds it for chef Craig Brundege. He likes to cook the thick patties to at least medium, but the kitchen agreed to my medium-rare request; the burger was juicy and perfect – like the backyard burger that dreams are made of.

115 N. Kentucky St., McKinney. 972-542-0185.



12 Burgers
The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired at this gloomy fast-food spot in Far North Dallas, named for the 12 toppings on its signature burger, but the eats are excellent. The "classic" is a felicitous arrangement of a half-pound Angus patty, lettuce, tomato and Thousand Island dressing on a toasted sesame-seed bun; pickles and onions are optional (yes, you want them). Or go for the giant, sloppy 12 Burger with bacon, American cheese, sautéed onions, avocado, mushrooms, bell peppers, pickles, jalapeños, lettuce, tomato, Thousand Island and mustard.

6006 Belt Line Road, Dallas. 972-239-4194.





Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger
Last but certainly not least is Oak Cliff's monumentally juicy behemoth on a bun. It may be gigantic, but the ratios are correct: exactly the right amount of squishy bun, ripe tomato slice and lettuce to big, meaty, well-seasoned patty. The lively dose of mayo, mustard and pickles makes it quite the event. Call ahead to order and pick up, or prepare to wait. It's takeout only, so you'll have to take the booty elsewhere – ideally nearby – to dig in.

2615 S. Beckley Ave., Dallas. 214-943-5214.

Best in DFW: Burgers 2008:


Here's the list of Best Burgers in DFW as compiled by The Dallas Morning News critics in 2008.



•Angry Dog


•Fred's Texas Cafe


•Kelly's Eastside


•Love Shack


•Perry's


•Snuffer's


•Twisted Root Burger Co.


•Wingfield's Breakfast and Burger

WORDS OF WISDOM FROM THE DUKE

Actor. Patriot. Philosopher. John Wayne didn't just know his way around a six-shooter. He was deadly with his words, too, tossing off bons mots like grenades. While not exactly an American Confucius, Wayne's nothing if not quotable and a discerning listener could live his life guided by The Duke's words of wisdom.  Without further ado, here's the best of the proverbial John Wayne.

1. "Don't apologize; it's a sign of weakness." -- She Wore a Yellow Ribbon


Rarely was the Duke's guiding ethos of manliness, self-reliance, and bravado distilled into a more perfect package than in his response to the apologies of a woman responsible for a massacre in this classic 1949 Western. Despite his aforementioned secret vulnerability, at the end of the day this is what Wayne was: stubborn, strong, and unapologetic. What's done is done. Second-guessing is for cowards, not cowboys.



2. "There's right and there's wrong. You got to do one or the other. You do the one and you're living. You do the other and you may be walking around but you're dead as a beaver hat." --The Alamo


If nothing else, The Alamo is about drawing a line in the sand by deciding which side you're on. On and off screen, Wayne saw things in black and white. Here, as Davy Crockett, he stands for democracy and sticking to your principles. A man who values security over morality is a traitor to his self. Tough tonic perhaps but also truly American.



3. "Sorry, don't get it done, Dude." -- Rio Bravo


Wayne was -- in the jargon of contemporary economics -- a results-oriented worker. Which is to say that he gets the job done. End of story. Nothing stands in his way, not even, in Rio Bravo, a gang of outlaws who have him outnumbered and outgunned. By hook or by crook, he'll do what needs doing, as he reminds drunk deputy Dude (Dean Martin) in this quotation. Even with the odds stacked against you, failure isn't an option. Well put.



4. "I never shot nobody I didn't have to." -- True Grit


In a perfect world, a gun would never be necessary but Wayne, like Arnold Schwarzenegger , knows that some problems require drastic measures. As Rooster Cogburn, Wayne has seen his share of bloodshed. That's part of his job. But even at his most brutal, Wayne also recognizes the fine line between a man and a murderer.



5. "All battles are fought by scared men who'd rather be some place else." -- In Harm's Way


The Duke is vulnerable and sensitive on occassion. That's what makes him a star. Which isn't to say that emotions ever overwhelm him or determine his fate. That soldiers get scared isn't surprising. That they still go into battle is what makes them brave.



6. Pat Wheeler: "A game-legged old man and a drunk. That's all you got?" John Wayne: "That's what I've got." -- Rio Bravo


This line is really Wayne's way of saying, "If you've got lemons, make lemonade." He sees people as his supreme resource, and he's not about to let some scoundrel put him down because one of his cohorts happens to be a drunkards. That snappy retort by the Duke is so notable that Dissent magazine did an entire article around on how it related to Wayne's vision of democracy. (For real!)



7. "Out here, due process is a bullet." -- The Green Berets


Doing right sometimes means ignoring nettlesome bureaucracy. This is one of Wayne's most infamous quotations, and it comes from one of his most misguided, reviled films, The Green Berets. The movie is a misguided call to stay the course in Vietnam, and the line brings to mind the troubling vigilantism that's central to the way Wayne and his characters see the world.



8. "There's some things a man just can't run away from." -- Stagecoach


The Duke's characters are always being pursued -- by troubled pasts and, ultimately, by death. That also goes for Wayne's own life. For decades, cancer pursued him. He beat it once, but, ultimately, the disease came back to defeat him. But he fought back against it until he couldn't fight anymore, just like Ringo Kid in Stagecoach. Wayne is about facing things with both eyes wide open and both guns blazing.



9. "We brought nothing into this world, and it's certain we can carry nothing out." --Red River


The Duke always strips life down to its essentials. In Red River, the iconic actor plays a cattle driver making due on the frontier. A true spartan individualist, Wayne's character see his life as enriched by the certainty of death. Indeed, the above statement would sit well with such esteemed existentialists as Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Sometimes, the sentiment doesn't seem as harsh when said with a drawl.



10. "I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them." -- The Shootist


That's the Wayne philosophy in a nutshell, and it's fitting that it comes in his last movie. Why was he like this? Was it a result of childhood beat downs after being named "Marion"? Who knows and, more importantly, who cares? In his final role, he's, appropriately, a dying gunslinger, a man at the end of his tether who still hangs onto his principles. Say what you will about the Duke and his philosophy, but he stuck by it till the end.