FREDERICKSBURG, Texas – Just south of Fredericksburg, along the small slopes of the serene Texas Hill Country, you’ll find this burger oasis known for some great grub. A place with burgers so good their featured on the cover of magazines. The Alamo Springs Café.
To say Mike Tangman opened Alamo Springs Café in a desolate location would be a bit of an understatement.
“It’s a very unique place. It’s out in the middle of nowhere kind of between Kerrville, Fredericksburg, Burney, and San Antonio so it’s a neat place to come to,” said customer Larry Pottridge from Kerrville.
Mike bought an old saddle shop in Fredericksburg and moved it to a remote region for a different purpose, a general store with a small eatery.
“Yeah, originally, we had grocery aisles and we had four tables for the café,” Mike said. “You know I only put burgers on the menu, believe it or not, for the kids.”
Then fate changed all of that.
“The first person that bought food here, which was five minutes after I opened, bought a burger and at the end of the week I threw away 80 pounds of deli meat and decided I guess I am a burger joint.”
Word of mouth was already gushing in burger lovers to the Alamo Springs Café, but the dam was about to break thanks to a big cover spread on a state-wide magazine. The response was so insane, the burger featured on the front page got a special name.
“Yeah, we call it the cover burger because it was on the cover,” Mike said.
This cheese burger is made with a half-pound of 81/19 ground beef seasoned with salt and pepper, a jalapeno cheese bun, grilled onions, avocado, and green chili.
The burger starts cooking when the patty hits the grill. The jalapeno cheddar bun is grilled and covered with mustard and mayo. Pickles, lettuce, tomato, and avocado are placed on the bun before cheese, onions, and green chilies are put on the grill.
Once the grilling is complete the burger is assembled, placed on a plate, and served with a knife in the center to hold this picture-perfect burger together.
When it comes to taste, this burger is like three or four burgers in one, and every bite is something better.
So, you may have to go over the hills, cross the river, and through the woods, but in the end, you’ll find Alamo Springs Café is well worth a stop on The Texas Bucket List.