Driving in Austin, Texas can be difficult. The roads themselves are fine, laid out in a perfect grid. But there are those hills when you go south of the Colorado River and first encounter some of the famed Texas Hill Country. There the driving is tough because of all the things you can see. Block after block is packed with stores and restaurants that you just cannot find in, say, Manhattan.
It’s a bewildering new world for me. Austin has become home to a new pack of burger joints. Yes, they may count as fast food, but this is “good” fast food. Four blocks south of the river, where South Lamar meets Barton Springs Road there is a big, big intersection.
As I pulled up to the light, there was a Jack in Box across the street, and a pair of Golden Arches kitty korner. But my target was just there to my right: P. Terry’s Burger Stand. This chain, because there are five of them now, was created by Patrick Terry after he read Fast Food Nation. Now, if you have not read FFN, but you desire nightmares, then it’s good read. It’ll keep you out of McDonald’s for a year or so. Maybe for forever.
P. Terry’s uses hormone-free beef, forming it by hand into generous patties. The fries are fresh-cut potatoes, not creatures shot out of a gun and frozen. The tomatoes are local, the lemonade is sweet. The menu has just added a Maine Root Beer Shake.
In short, at the intersection of Lamar and Barton Springs, you can go for manufactured food or real food. Real food, by the way, actually costs less at P. Terry’s than across the street. One bite and you’ll know that you are devouring an actual burger. Great flavor, texture, aroma. It’s what a burger was meant to be. When you are done, you are not simply filled. You are satisfied.
Now, you may not be in Austin, but across the country you’ll find choices like this. It’s the big chains versus the little guys, rising up in a revolution aimed at your palette. Droid food versus the real stuff. And, in the cases like P. Terry’s, you don’t even have to pay more to get real.
Please, support your local burger guys. Thank them. Encourage them to be buy local. And remember that first great dictum of computer science: garbage in, garbage out.