Austin Burger Tour: Texas Chili Parlor

The Texas Chili Parlor is a little hole in the wall on Guadalupe that is famous for, well, its chili. And the chili is good; I like the black bean and Elgin sausage chili, but have not yet tried the XXX chili. However, we’re here to talk about the burgers. And the burgers are good, too. The burgers are a little thicker than places like Crown and Anchor or Fran’s, but not a thick as Casino el Camino (although I have not seen a place with a burger as thick as Casino yet). The burgers are not too juicy, but not dry either. I guess it’s the “Goldilocks” burger: just right. Another good thing is that the Parlor is very consistent. While this place is not at the top of my list, I have never had a bad burger there, and it has a prominent position in my restaurant rotation. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s conveniently located one block east of the Capitol and between downtown and the UT campus.One thing: they don’t serve fries.  That’s a minor annoyance for me, but they do serve fritos, which is acceptable.  Atmosphere wise, the place is pretty small and dark. They have the old-timey signs and license plates on the walls. Service is pretty good, although not as consistent as the burgers.

Overall score: 7 out of 10.