Hamburger Inn is the hamburger experience you’ve been dreaming about: a perfectly cooked fried onion burger in a charming diner that has been serving it up since the 1930s. Follow that burger with a piece of homemade pie. Kalisa calls it “Hamburger Heaven,” and she might be right.
Since 1938
Hamburger Inn opened in Ardmore Oklahoma in 1938, according to local historian Butch Bridges (Oklahoma History blog). My family’s history with Hamburger Inn starts in 1941, when my 12-year-old father moved to Ardmore and discovered their hamburgers — 20 burgers for $1. It moved to its current location in 1955, 68 years ago.
Fast forward to 1976. Lunch bell would ring at Ardmore Middle School and 250 6th graders (myself included) would go screaming and racing through downtown Ardmore, many of them headed three blocks to Hamburger Inn. If you were lucky (and fast) you got there in time to get one of the twelve coveted counter stools. If you missed getting a stool, you could eat standing up at the counter along the north wall, with room for about 4 kids. That’s it. The rest of us ran somewhere else, only to choke down a clearly inferior lunch in the 23 minutes allotted for middle school lunch.
Back then there were two identical twin ladies who worked the counter. I wish I had a picture. They wore matching uniforms, and had their hairstyle sprayed and in place every day. They rarely smiled, probably because they were not amused by us 6th graders jockeying for spots at the counter.
Just as good today
In the words of David Byrne of the Talking Heads, Hamburger Inn is “the same as it ever was.”
The 12 barstools at the counter, the leather softened and cracked, look to be the same ones that I happily climbed on to in 1976.
The countertop is the same linoleum since at least the 70s (probably earlier) with well-worn spots from plates sliding on and off.
From the counter you can watch the cook grill those burgers and fry the onions. The waitress is always handy to refill your soda, as the cooking and eating all takes place in one small room. You can see it all from the counter.
And I’ve only ever ordered one thing, because I can’t bring myself to order anything else: a single regular with cheese and pickles, burn the onions.
Be still my heart: the charred meat, the burnt onions, the crunchy pickle. Here is my last bite, which I consumed with tears in my eyes:
The Grande Finale: Pie
I have devoured my Cheeseburger in Paradise, but now it is pie time.
Hamburger Inn has pie every day. The pie is baked daily, the flavors vary, and when it’s gone it’s gone. On my last visit, they had my second favorite, coconut cream pie:
These may be fighting words, but I believe that old-fashioned buttermilk pie is the best, then coconut cream, then pecan, then chocolate cream. Lord have mercy. This pie is the real deal.
Right off I-35
Ardmore is on I-35, right between Oklahoma City and Dallas. Perhaps more importantly, a half hour from the world’s largest casino (I am not kidding), Winstar. If you’re grabbing a meal in Ardmore, skip the Burger King and the What-A-Burger (and I do love What-A-Burger) and go a little further into town to Hamburger Inn. It’s right off Main Street, but seems like you’ve gone back in time 50 years. You’ll be glad you did.
For more stories about great restaurants we’ve enjoyed, please see:
- These are the people in my neighborhood — at Tucker’s Whippy Dip
- Eating Our Way Through Dallas One Visit at a Time!
- Fly to Bird Bakery for Delicious Tweets!
- Celebration Park in Naples: Food Truckin’ Good Time
