What’s not to love, between the kid-friendly playgrounds, the fun neon signs, and photobooths? Oh yeah, and the killer burgers? You can choose from a menu of neighborhood-named burgers, or build your own from a sizeable but pretty conventional range of ingredients, also with veggie and chicken patty options. Sweet potato fries tend to outshine the bland regular fries; there’s no upcharge to substitute, so go for it.

The overall success of a Phil’s burger owes largely to the bun, which… [More]

In the leafy suburbs near Lakeline Mall, in a small, unlikely strip mall, Noble Pig serves up one of the finest lunches in Texas. Here, meat is cured, smoked, stuffed, and pulled by hand; vegetables are pickled and mustard is mustarded in house, and everything comes on pillowy white or wheat bread baked on the premises. The shop’s a happy reconstruction of early-20th-century Americana: blue-and-white-tiled floors, chalkboards, wood furnishings, and an almost monastic minimalism. At breakfast, oatmeal, Nutella French toast,… [More]