At Susan’s Burgers, the Griddle is Hot and Mom Would Be Proud

There’s something about home cooking. A meal made by your mom, possibly using a recipe handed down from her mom, and maybe her mom’s mom — it just feels like love. That’s what’s happening at Susan’s Burgers N More over on the far edge of the Design District.

This small spot serves up burgers (obviously) and more (as advertised). The “more” includes a lot of Tex-Mex, such as street tacos, burritos and tortas. There are also sandwiches, including ham and cheese, a Philly cheesesteak, grilled chicken and a BLT. 

This is a family-owned-and-run place, and the recipes reflect that. Susan Alvarado worked in restaurants around Dallas before opening this restaurant in December 2021. She wanted to be her own boss, and who can blame her?

I ordered the burrito with beef fajita meat ($10.50) and a bacon cheeseburger ($13.50) with steak fries ($3.75). 

A Stand Out

What makes all of this unique is, of course, that the Design District is one of the hot spots for Dallas restaurant real estate. Town Hearth opened its over-the-top steakhouse about a decade ago. Then, out-of-towners like Carbone, the New York City-famous Italian restaurant, converted a warehouse-like space into its bougie restaurant. Delilah from the Hollywood Hills opened early this year with $29 chicken strips. Humble local spots like Mama’s Daughters’ Diner, Slow Bone and Susan’s are just down the road, keeping things in check for the lunch-and-dinner crowd that needs a hot plate at a reasonable price. Sleek showrooms and jackets are not required.

The burrito alone is a lot of food. It’s about the size of a footlong sandwich and is stuffed with refried beans, rice, meat, lettuce, and tomatoes on a flour tortilla. And it comes with red and green salsa (the red is just a smidge hotter), which it needs for a punch of heat and to help the interior ingredients, which are a little dry. They grill that tortilla shut, Taco Bell-style, and wham bam, none of your ingredients are falling out. 

A Burger from the ’80s

The burger is straight off the grill at my parents’ house in the ‘80s. It is exactly the kind of thick patty my stepdad cooked with the fixings my mom laid out, down to the leafy Romaine lettuce and sliced dill pickles from the jar with that electric green color. The meat hasn’t taken a butter bath in the back before it’s cooked, like at many burger places, which is why I recommend getting mayonnaise and mustard on yours. I am typically a yellow mustard-only person, but this burger needs the extra oil and fat from mayo.

The steak fries are cut thick and coated with spices, with a nice, crispy outside. That said, they were not my cup of tea. The potatoes were a little hard, not giving that mushy interior you want from a steak fry, possibly due to undercooking or an uneven fryer.

The thing about Susan’s is that the ingredients are supermarket quality. There’s no Bibb lettuce in your burger or bacon-maple jam hidden away somewhere. Those refried beans are the canned ones from the store, and they’re not particularly dressed up. That’s why the food can be priced so affordably. That said, it’s still very good food and, for me, nostalgic to eat. 

Susan’s is the place you go when you’re craving home cooking but cannot, for whatever reason, do it for yourself. Be warned, however, there is limited countertop seating, although it has added a covered patio with a few tables outside. This place was built to serve takeaway food.

Susan’s Burgers and More, 2226 Irving Blvd., Monday – Friday 8 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. – 8 a.m.; Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.