Monday, August 31, 2009

Chubby's Burger Shack

Presumably named after each customer who leaves, Chubby's is a new hamburger joint on Camp Bowie between 183 and Cherry. Chubby's has a western/sports/casual/fuddruckers style that screams "we're new but we look old". It works because they're in an an older area that doesn't have very much new development.

Chubby's is currently working on getting a license to sell beer and wine, but for now it has TV's, a cart of fresh toppings and baskets of burgers. Its a casual hamburger joint with a unique twist. The unique twist is that they've taken the fuddruckers approach to burger toppings by providing you with a cart of fresh toppings and a surprising variety.

On my recent trip, the Rangers game was on, some casual Texas country was playing and my waitress, Flo, called me "Hun". This is always a good omen. Especially for a burger joint. I took my seat at a table in the corner so I could leer at a nearby table. The options generally range from burger to cheeseburger, fries and onion rings, and a few other items. I ordered a 1/4 lb cheeseburger and a side of fries.

My stomach, however, ordered the Chubby Challenge. For those of you with larger arteries than me, this is your place. Right now, there is a 3 pound burger and 2 pound side order of fries, waiting for your domination. Eat it all and they name it after you as you're rushed to the hospital. If you fail to eat it, everybody in the restaurant gets to laugh at your shame. For those of you who are bad at math, a 3 lb burger equals twelve of the burgers I ordered. Twelve. I couldn't eat that in a week.

Anyways, Flo brought me a cup to fill up the soda of my choice at the soda fountain. Generally, I like waitpeoples to bring me what I'm waiting on, but I'm a fan of the refill at your own pace idea. Plus, it gave me a chance to check out the toppings cart. For such a small cart, there were quite a few options. You can add regular mustard, spicy mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, red onion, white onion, jalapenos, and pico de gallo to your burger. Quite a selection for a small cart, if you ask me, which you didn't.

The burger came and I went with a my favorite toppings. All of the toppings were of good quality and I have nothing to complain about except I would prefer fresh jalapenos over pickled ones. But again, nobody asked me.

Of course, toppings don't make a bad burger good. Not a problem here because my burger was terrific. The meat was well flavored and cooked perfectly. The bun was nicely toasted and the cheese was copious and meltious. I will go back just for the burger. I will also order the onion rings next time. The fries had a texture as though they weren't cooked enough. They were skin on fries so they could have been fresh cut (which would be great), but they were a bit raw (which is not great). The onion rings, based on my leers from across the room, looked awesome. They were stringy but friedy. Too of the more delicious adjectives.

The prices are a little high for the food, but the burger was definitely worth its cost. The fries would be worth a pass unless it was just opening pains. If you've been and had a better experience with the fries, please let everybody know.

Chubby's Burger Shack is located at 7618 Camp Bowie West. Let me know if you've been and had a different experiences.

Coming up soon - the Love Shack and my run in with Tim Love along with Cafe Bella.

Chubby's Burger Shack on Urbanspoon

16 comments:

bourgon said...

Awesome. Just heard of it Saturday - overheard the owner of San Antonio Taqueria (Taqueria San Antonio?) talking with the owner of Chubby's.

Once I get off this maddening diet, I'm going.

Anonymous said...

How do you like Love Shack on So7? We have been a few times and want to know what you think...

FortWorthHoleInTheWall said...

Anonymous, you'll have to wait and see. Check back soon!

Anonymous said...

Try the onion rings next time. They're the best of the sides. The burgers are great and I hope this place lasts. This place was use to be the Fairway Grill, which we also loved and this is the only establishment since that has come close.

you said...

i really liked chubby's... a nice laid back hangout to get a burger and some good food items like chubby caps

FortWorthHoleInTheWall said...

I'll give the onion rings a try but what are the chubby caps? Are they deep fried pickles?

Thanks for reading and all the comments.

Unknown said...

The fries are really hit and miss there, sometimes they are excellent, sometimes like ou said pretty raw. But the burgers are definitely OMG good.

Anonymous said...

Chubb caps are battered, fried jalapenios. The big nasty burger is greatness as well.

Anonymous said...

Chubby's is the bomb. Great burgers, cheap ice cold beer, and the onion rings are outstanding. (as are the other fried veggies) I love the way they serve the burger open style so you can dress your burger like you want at the fresh condiment-veggie cart. This place is ther closest thing you'll find to the long closed Rick's Locker Room.. And they even have ranch dressing in one of the condiment pumps. What a novel idea - no more sending the waitress back 5 times for more ranch for the kids. Great patio, too. Try Chubby's, you wont be disappointed.

Mick

Taco This said...

I've been here twice with two different experience. The first time I went, I got a "to go" order of Bacon Cheeseburger and Onion rings. Both were among the best I've ever had, even though they forgot the bacon on my Bacon Cheeseburger. ;-)

I raved about it and took some co-workers. This time, the onion rings were completely different. 95% batter/5% onions. Plus the grease was a bit old, which simply ruined the onion rings.

However, each time I go there...I can't help but envy the people who are drinking beer and eating burgers at noon on a week day. One of these days, I am going to have an off-site meeting with my team, and we will do the same. :-)

FortWorthHoleInTheWall said...

So far, I've found the burgers to be consistenly great, and the sides good to medicore. I don't know why they can't figure those out, but the burgers still bring me back.

And I've always had the same feeling when seeing people drink at lunch.

Thanks for reading.

Anonymous said...

We took some friends there and was just rambling on to them how the burgers were. When we got our burgers and the meat barely covered the bun. Price went up and quanity went down. Fries were not seasoned like before and the oil was old which came out in the taste of the fries. The floor was sticky and I walk right out of my flip flop.

Anonymous said...

Went in December had to wait in line just to get a seat, Was a very good burger for the price. Three months later, OMG..come on, what the heck, did the owner get greedy or what. Should have known something was up when there was plenty of spots to sit at the noon hour. Prices went up and the burger's shrunk to half the size. Not a Texas burger any more in my books!

FortWorthHoleInTheWall said...

I'll admit that I haven't been in awhile, but if what you're saying about the price and size is true, that's a darn shame.

Anonymous said...

I discovered this place 2 months ago I have been back 8 times and I love it they use a bigger bun than anyone else so its not a big fat back yard burger and I love the fries and Beer batter onion rings and my kids love the pizza burger and pizza quesadillas

Anonymous said...

Went this past Saturday, 1/7/12...Had the big nasty, my partner had the green chile burger. I thought the burger was fantastic! We also got an order of fried pickles, they were served hot, with a light/tempura style batter...Got some ranch at the condiment bar and added the spicy/cayenne/salt mix on the table to it for a spicy ranch dip. Best fried pickles I've ever had. Our waitress was super! will be back...