Jul 14, 2007
Bernie’s Brutally Honest Restaurant Review – Dutch’s Burgers ‘n’ Beer
I had intended to try Dutch’s on July 4, but they were closed for the holiday. Still, I kept hearing stories about how great it was, so I finally went there for dinner tonight.
For those of you who have not heard the stories, Dutch’s is a new burger joint opened by well known FW Chef Grady Spears. It’s located at 3009 S University Drive, in the space where Jon’s Grille once operated. The place is named after a legendary TCU football coach.
For me, the atmosphere was a little squeaky clean for a college-campus burger & beer joint. It lacks that worn-in, crayon-writing-on-the-walls, hole-in-the-wall authenticity that Jon’s had. It’s like they white-washed Jon’s, added a fancy bar and some trendy Chipotle-style seating, hung some shiny new reprints of old TCU football photos, and called it a day. Not that any of that is terrible; it just doesn’t have the character I was hoping for.
The food, though, it great. We started with an order of the roasted green chile queso, just because the menu mentioned homemade tostadas. What a great choice! The freshly made chips were fantastic, and the queso had a style all its own. Just unique enough to make an impression, yet traditional enough to please the Tex-mex fan inside all of us.
The burgers were a hit too. I ordered a burger called “the lineman.” It was an impressive burger, but if you aren’t a lineman you probably would be better served by another burger. I had no problem finishing it (fat boy gotta eat), but I’m still feeling inexplicably full writing this review 3 hours later. The buns were robust enough to handle my two huge patties, cheddar cheese, bacon, and fixin’s without crumbling or becoming a soggy mess. These are beef-lovers’ burgers, without a doubt. The patties are thick and hearty, and are clearly ground from high-quality beef. Suddenly after eating it, $8 for a burger didn’t seem so out of line.
Our meal: 
I was glad to see that Dutch’s serves Rahr and Sons beer, as well, because I like having the opportunity to support my local brewer.
That’s it for the review; check Dutch’s out for a killer burger… here’s to hoping that in a few years the place can build a little “atmosphere!”
[...] of whom have fine dining experience and have run restaurants themselves in the past) said “You should have gone to Dutch’s,” without me having said that we had even considered it as an option. I guess that’s [...]