Chris Shepherd's Houston-Area Burger Picks: Boo's Burgers and Tookie's

Houston's burger scene keeps evolving, and few people watch it more closely than chef and James Beard Award winner Chris Shepherd. On the January 17, 2026 episode of KPRC 2's Eat Like a Local, he split the difference between a buzzy newcomer and a counter that has been flipping patties for half a century: Boo's Burgers on Navigation Boulevard, and Tookie's down in Kemah. Two very different rooms, and a reasonable weekend's worth of driving between them.

The newcomer: Boo's Burgers

Boo's spent about five years as a pop-up before native Houstonian Joseph Boudreaux gave it a permanent address at 2510 Navigation Boulevard in the East End, a block of Navigation better known for Tex-Mex. The building leans into roadside-stand nostalgia: a walk-up window, a big open-air patio under fiberglass umbrellas, walnut paneling and vintage lighting inside.

The order is the OG, the smashburger that made the brand's name during the pop-up years — a house-ground 44 Farms patty, smashed and seasoned hard, with American cheese, shaved onion, spicy pickles, tomato, shredded lettuce and a smoky remoulade on a buttery challah bun. There is a vegetarian counterpart too, the Shroom Sammie, built on fried marinated oyster mushrooms with lemon-pepper wet sauce, garlic aioli, pickles and a cabbage-and-mustard-green slaw.

The 50-year classic: Tookie's

Tookie's has been grilling since 1975, and the burgers share top billing with Mama Ethel's onion rings. The menu is not frozen in amber: the Squealer blends bacon into the beef patty, and the Rodeo Burger marinates the patty in barbecue sauce and stacks thin, crispy onion rings on top. Reader's Digest named it the best burger in Texas in 2022.

One planning note the segment's title makes clear and the name does not: Tookie's is not in Houston. It sits at 406 Texas Avenue in Kemah, roughly 30 miles southeast of downtown, having moved there from its original Seabrook location in 2018 to make way for the Highway 146 expansion. Most of the decor and memorabilia moved with it. Treat this one as a Bay Area day trip rather than a weeknight stop.

Why It Matters

Houston's dining scene thrives on range, and Shepherd's two picks illustrate it neatly: a five-year pop-up that graduated to a walk-up window, and a counter that has not needed to change much since 1975. For more of the city's eating map, see our editor's pick guide to the best restaurants in Houston.

This article is a summary of reporting by Click2Houston. Read the full story here.