Old School Austin Burgers: Hut's Hamburgers, Since 1939

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Homer "Hut" Hutson opened the burger establishment on South Congress in late 1939 with a simple but limited menu: their signature double meat, double cheese "Dagburger," hot dogs, chicken fried steak and french fries. Thirty years, a flood and a couple ownership changes later, Hut's moved downtown into its current spot on West 6th Street.

When current owners Mike and Kim Hutchinson — the name is a complete coincidence, he insists — bought Hut's in 1981, they took it upon themselves to really beef up the menu, adding nearly 20 additional burger selections alone. Mike raves about the freshness of Hut's regular ol' griddled six-ounce beef patties, but any of the restaurant's burgers can be substituted with chicken breast, or a patty made of buffalo, longhorn beef, or vegetables. You have to order your fried sides separately, but we hear the onion rings are handmade daily and totally worth the wait.

Bonus trivia: Longtime Hut's employees will tell you that they feel partially responsible for Matthew McConaughey landing his first major role in 1993's Dazed and Confused. The story goes that the actor's girlfriend at the time worked at Hut's, and one afternoon while waiting for her to get off her shift, he bumped into the film's director, Richard Linklater, at a nearby hotel bar. (If you're curious, McConaughey's favorite burger is allegedly the "Arnold's Best.")

—Jasmin Sun

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