Veg Out! Austin: Veggie Burgers Archives

P. Terry's Burger Stand

By Skye on March 6, 2009 2:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

404 S. Lamar, Austin, 78704 (Barton Springs and Lamar, southwest corner)
Open Daily, 11AM-11PM
P. Terry's Website
P. Terry's Page on Yelp

Ben had mentioned P.Terry's back in 2006, and I know he ate there several times before moving to NYC, but he never wrote a full review! Where's the love? And with the impending arrival of two more P. Terry's locations, I thought it was time to remedy that.

I first drove through P. Terry's late one afternoon when I had a toddler in the back seat, a hungry husband to pick up at work, and absolutely zero energy to think about dinner. If you're looking for a variety of menu options, this is not the place to go, but I just needed a couple of veggie burgers and fries - so this worked out just fine. On subsequent trips, we discovered that we usually get a bit of a combo discount even if we order milkshakes instead of sodas, and now we are hooked. Burgers, fries, and shakes for two of us is well under $20. The fries we got the first time held up on the way home better than any batch so far, unfortunately, but it's still a good cheap meal.

"Homemade" (i.e. made on premises in a restaurant) veggie burgers can be a really good idea or a really bad one. There's one in town that tastes like beets, carrots, and chunks of broccoli held together by sawdust paste. So if I had realized P. Terry's made its own veggie burgers, I might have been a little leery. They're fine, though, and I even like the sauce despite my historic dislike of most condiments. For those of you who are into that sort of thing, you can request onions, jalapenos, or pickles on your burger.

I emailed P. Terry's to find out if the veggie burgers are still cooked separately from the others as they were three years ago, and they confirmed this is still the case. But unfortunately for vegans, the burgers are made with cheese.

The P. Terry's website says they were inspired by Fast Food Nation, which explains their dedication to making food out of actual ingredients. In fact, there's an ongoing debate in my house as to whether P. Terry's should really be thought of as junk food, since it's made from actual FOOD. I don't think I should be penalized for supporting such an upstanding local business by having my dinner labeled as junk. My husband thinks that no matter where I get it, I have to admit that having fries and a milkshake with my dinner does not qualify as good nurtition.

But who really cares when it tastes so good?

I'll keep you posted on the opening of the additional locations.

Image courtesy of hamron on flickr under a Creative Commons license.