Burgers and fries and everything nice! So far we’ve familiarized you with Roam in San Francisco, Burger Up in Nashville along with DMK and Grange Hall in Chicago. Today I want to introduce you to Hopdoddy Burger Bar in Austin.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar
2438A West Anderson, Austin, TX 78757
I don’t make burgers often at home however as I’ve mentioned in the past, burgers are our food-of-choice when we are traveling and eating out.
Jeff, Dave & I had just arrived in Austin for SXSW in March and we were ready to eat. A burger joint is typically a great place to find grass-fed beef and in Austin we didn’t have to look too far before we wound up at Hopdoddy.
Sourcing Matters
When you first walk into the West Anderson location, the first thing you’ll notice is all the signage that promotes the farms and farmers where they source their ingredients!
If I owned a restaurant and sourced locally, like they do at Hopdoddy, I’d be super proud to promote the folks I work with as well.
Walking up to place our orders we walked past the full bar where they have all sorts of options available, if you’d like to partake. We were surrounded by fresh ingredients: oranges, lemons, limes, tomatoes…everything sitting and waiting in their crates to be used.
Crafted Burgers
When you look at the menu you may think you are only allowed to chose from the pre-made options but you would be wrong.
Jeff likes to not have to work when he places an order in a restaurant, so he typically goes for one of the pre-made options. Dave does the same. I, on the other hand, have no problem being picky about my order. :)
The thing is, it may not be apparent from all the options they provide but you can absolutely build your own burger.
Although Jeff went with a bunless Classic and Dave chose one of the Crafted Burgers straight off the menu I started with the Classic (lettuce, onion and tomato) and upgraded from an Angus Burger to a Grass-fed patty, then I added Apple-Smoked Bacon, a Fried Farm Egg, Sliced Avocado and told them to hold the bun.
The salads also looked amazing and they’re customizable as well. I wanted to get my veg on too so I ordered the Baby Kale salad. This salad is made with organic baby kale leaves, organic arugula, roasted butternut squash, feta cheese, dates, roasted corn (which I asked to leave off), spiced pepitas, pickled red onions and pomegranate vinaigrette.
The salad was extremely filling and Dave said the burgers were the best he had had in a really long time.
To Fry or Not To Fry
If you’re gonna go for fries we’ve learned to ask what oil they use (with Jeff’s peanut allergy, we just need to make sure).
The regular fries are cooked in canola oil. The truffle fries are cooked in a canola and olive oil blend and then topped with truffle oil. We went with the latter.
Drinks
We were good with water but if you’re looking for something different to wash it all down, Hopdoddy has every option available including non-brand name fountain drinks boasting real sugar, several flavors of shakes, local crafted beer, wine and a full bar available if you’re in the mood.
Service
The staff was helpful when placing our order, quick to serve and fun to talk to. We were in and out in a short period of time.
Hopdoddy Burger Bar does a great job offering local and properly sourced ingredients for their diners. They even focus on recycling and composting by providing separate areas for you to sort your trash.
We Couldn’t Wait To Go Back
When we returned to Austin a month later in April for Paleo f(x), we just had to go back to Hopdoddy! If you’re in Austin, I highly recommend you give them a try.
Alternate Locations
Beyond several locations in Austin, you can find Hopdoddy Burger Bar in two other cities in Texas (Dallas and Addison) plus Scottsdale, Arizona and Denver, Colorado.
Are you interested in more Paleo friendly restaurants? Have a recommendation of someplace we should check out? Let us know!
Hopdoddy Burger Bar
2438A West Anderson, Austin, TX 78757
