Shake Shack opens this week, so now OKC will have access to a burger so average that you can find it in many airports around the country. It’s in an airport; how could it not be great? Imagine saying that about Chili’s. 

Once again we’re watching our family, friends and neighbors channel their culinary stepchild into being excited that yet another national brand has chosen to come to OKC and contribute nothing we can’t find better locally, while extracting roughly 60 cents on every dollar from the local economy. When compared to a locally owned restaurant which keeps approximately 70 cents on every dollar in the local economy, we see the real cost of chains is in their negative impact on a city, especially the harsh reality that flocking to a chain all but guarantees a local spot will not survive.

This is about food, not economics, though, and we need to say up front that no chain restaurant opened or soon to open can provide their product with higher quality than what is already available in OKC. This has been true for at least the past decade, and likely longer, but even as we’re watching positive national attention increasingly directed at our food scene, and after the back-handed compliments that were frequent pre-2020 have ceased, we still have Okies clamoring and evangelizing for average chain food, and Shake Shack is the definition of average.

In no world or alternate timeline is the chicken sando at a newly arrived chain better than the Lao hot chicken sando at Bar Sen. The steaks at a chain steakhouse can’t touch Mahogany, Symmetry, Boulevard Steakhouse or Birdie’s by Chef Kevin Lee. Hear anyone crowing about Ramsay’s Kitchen anymore? No. It’s because the food isn’t better than what we already have. We’re not a second tier food city. We have nearly 50 different ethnicities and nationalities making culturally and regionally specific food in OKC. And we never needed people who don’t live here to start slinging awards our way to know our food was great. That’s a stepchild response too. All that to say, you can find a better burger at 20-plus metro restaurants than what Shake Shack is producing. 

As a resource for the friend or family member who is convinced chains provide better food than we have here, we’re providing a short list of local burgers, and this is a very partial list. The list is alphabetical, not ranked, and as usual, it doesn’t treat onion burgers like they’re special, because the Great Depression ended nearly 100 years ago. It’s impossible to overstate the golden age of burgers we’re seeing in OKC, so take your confused, sad friend to one of these spots. If they don’t like the burgers in this list, find new friends.

Bar Arbolada. It’s still what I wanted my McDonald’s burger to be when I was a kid, and that’s as close to effusive praise as I can get when talking about burgers. Go-to is a single, not a double.

Birrieria Utzil. Yes, a Guatemalan taco truck has one of the best burgers in the state. No surprise, because Chef Juan Quixtan is as versatile a chef as you’ll find. He’s brilliant, and the burger is the proof (as are the fish tacos).

Burger Punk. Rachel Cope’s divey joints have solid burgers, crinkle-cut fries as the gods intended, and plenty of whiskey to go around. Go-to is The Clash.

Hynson’s Classic Burgers. This brand came out of nowhere a few years ago. Started hearing rumblings about a local spot that was expanding on the strength of solid burgers. The rumors were true. Go-to is easy because it’s in the name: classic cheeseburger.

Johnnie’s Charcoal Broiler. They’ve been doing this for a long time, and it shows. Go-to: Caesar Burger, because good beef with Caesar dressing is a revelation. (I’m team Melted Cheese. Not sure what’s wrong with some of y’all.) 

New State Burgers & Spirits. This one is extremely popular locally, and while it’s not my preferred style, it’s excellent, and fans are right to love it. 

Nic’s Grill. I put them on the list just to avoid a 45-year-old white man with a gigantic beard who’s never had any other local burger calling me a “cuck,” and because on the rare occasion I want an onion burger, it’s solid. 

Paseo Grill. As regular readers know, their classic cheeseburger is my favorite burger in the metro. You just have to try it. Do it. 

Patty Wagon. Old school as hell, and delicious, and the tater tots are perfect every time. Go-to: The Big John, for the heat. 

S&B’s Burger Joint (the OG only at NW 59th and May). You’re here for the Theta. Pretty sure I’ve never had one close to this good, and the Theta is the burger we should be offering up as symbolic of Okie burgers, not the meatloaf sandwich people call an onion burger.

Spark. The Social Order Dining Collective got the contract for Scissortail Park, and I’ve always said that’s a great thing for our food reputation, because it could easily be a traveler’s first taste of OKC. Go-to here is the BLC Spark because pimento cheese.

The Goose. When the Okie Smash first showed up, I was skeptical. It’s a sandwich shop. I ate it. No longer skeptical, just a fan. Dear lord, it’s perfect. My favorite smash burger in the metro. 

The Hamilton Supperette & Lounge. The Aaron Burr-ger is both my favorite bar menu burger and my least favorite food pun, but I hate all puns. 

Tucker’s Onion Burgers. It’s the way onion burgers should be made, which is to say, I can scrape all the onions off and have all the flavor without the meatloaf texture. 

That’s enough to get you started, but I’m constantly surprised when I’m in a restaurant where I’d never think to get a burger, and an owner says, “You should try our burger,” and she’s usually right. OKC can rightfully claim that we are the burger capital, and if you go to Spark or Tucker’s you can get a shake and a burger from a locally owned company.