Old School Austin Burgers: Hill's Cafe, Since 1947

Burgers may be trendy right now, with new burger-focused restaurants popping up seemingly every day, but Austin's love for a good hamburger goes deep. This week, Jasmin Sun takes a look at the hamburger restaurants that have been feeding Austinites for decades. First up: Hill's Cafe.

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Hill's Cafe traces its founding back to Boomer Goodnight and his partner Sam "Posey" Hill (Hence "Hill's" Cafe), beginning as a 20-seat coffee shop serving up chuckwagon-style steaks. After 54 years, floods and even fires, the Goodnights shuttered the cafe in 1989. The building remained vacant until local radio personality Bob Cole renovated and reopened the restaurant in 2001.

Employees recommend "The Fat Bob," a breakfast-style burger with fried egg (supposedly named after Cole himself), but the "Tex-Mex Burger" and the original "Hill's Old-Fashioned Burger" remain the restaurant's best sellers. Each burger is served on a Sheila Partin potato bun, and comes with fries. Ask for a fork and knife — these half-pound patties get messy.

—Jasmin Sun

· Hill's Cafe [Official Site]
· All Hill's Cafe Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]
· All Burger Week Coverage on Eater Austin [-EATX-]