Midway Point Is Gone — and Dallas Has Lost a Truly Great Burger (For Now)

It ended, as it should, with a great burger.

In the final hours before closing down, while the line at In-N-Out grew mercilessly just next door, Midway Point moved on like a train. Each seat was filled at the horseshoe bar. Giant burgers made their way through the saloon-style doors, which never stayed closed for long.

A sharply bittersweet feeling hung in the air. “This is our last hurrah,” I overheard my server say, with all the heart of someone trying to stay upbeat, to another patron at the bar. Whiskey-bound country played like a lamentation.

As I sat waiting for my burger, I felt pangs of sadness grow. This was my first visit to Midway Point, frustratingly on their final day, and it became clear that I’d regret it. The Point burgers are 80/20 Angus beef, a quarter-pound patty or a dino-sized three-quarter pound patty that sizzles gloriously on a hot flat top.

As if to salve my growing wounds at the loss of a great local bar, I had ordered the planet-sized Point Burger. The menu read, “Please allow 20 minutes cooking time,” so I waited patiently and took in the scene.

I know I’ll miss Midway Point. I already miss the saloon doors, the Travis Tritt songs, the dim light that lets the soul unwind, the freshly fried cottage fries. I already miss the juicy, flat-top sizzling burgers. My burger was a real slab of cow, cooked majestically medium rare, indulged with loads of buttery onions and crispy bacon. Thin white bread as a bun kept the focus on the beef. It was a real burger sandwich, big as the Texas sky. It was a burger that confidently ignored 10 years of food writers like me.

Here’s the good news: Ellen Latchaw, who has run Midway Point with her husband Jim for 37 years, has confirmed a new location in the works near Spring Valley and Belt Line roads. Very recently, Midway Point had been given only 30 days notice to vacate the property — they have until April 22 — after Walmart sold their property to a developer (Latchaw confirms they’ve been paying rent to Walmart). No one responded to Midway Point after they attempted to contact the developer following their sudden notice to vacate, Latchaw says.

Exhausted from packing up the restaurant, Latchaw says Midway Point is planning to be open again, at the new location, in six weeks. The burgers won’t change, and that’s a good thing. We'll see you again, Midway Point, in six long weeks.

Midway Point was located at 12801 Midway Road