Foodie News

The Burger Guys, downtownified: What to expect as burgers invade KitchenIncubator

  • Burger Guys hamburgers are on!
    Photo by Caroline Gallay
  • Kitchen Incubator
    Photo via ShopKeep.com
  • Café Luz
    Photo by Sarah Rufca

Despite a unique soda program, good locally-brewed coffee and a rotating selection of chef-made food wares, most might not be familiar with Café Luz, a small space connected to industrial cooking space Kitchen Incubators at the northern tip of downtown.

But that's about to change as popular Westchase outfit The Burger Guys begin cooking inside Kitchen Incubator/Café Luz Wednesday (today). Burger Guys owner Jake Mazzu dubs the collaboration a "full-fledged pop-up restaurant," that will help them get a handle on what to look for as they consider a potential long-term downtown location.

"We talked about it for awhile, and basically we help them and they have a chance to help us," Mazzu told CultureMap. The Burger Guys will be at the downtown spot every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, serving from 10 a.m. until 2 or 3 p.m., whenever they run out.

Mazzu says for the first week, BGDT (that's the Twitter nickname for The Burger Guys Downtown) will offer their four most popular burgers — the Saigon, Sonoma, Texan and Houston as well as a more traditional "All-American" burger with the standard lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion, mustard and mayo.

The Burger Guys will be at the downtown spot every Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, serving from 10 a.m. until 2 or 3 p.m., whenever they run out.

The full menu will be added "in due time" as Mazzu and Brandon Fisch figure out what the space is capable of, and specialty burgers will rotate in on a week-by-week basis, including some classics from the Westchase Burger Guys menu as well as new ideas inspired by ingredients from the farmers' market. The Burger Guys' famous duck-fat French fries will also be on hand to order, along with a limited selection of the specialty dipping sauces.

The Café Luz space is pretty tiny, and Mazzu says to minimize confusion customers will be able to order both their burgers and drinks and desserts provided by the café at the Café Luz counter, and then just pick up their burger from the interior kitchen counter when it's ready.

With only a handful of tables inside, plan to eat your burger elsewhere — Market Square Park is only one block south, Quebedeaux Park is a few blocks east (and the site of the original Houston hanging tree near the courthouse) and the quiet beauty of Sesquicentennial Park is also within walking distance.

news/restaurants-bars