Houston, Strictly Houston

So many great Houston burger suggestions floating around.  I've footnoted every one, in my phone book restaurant section.  Best burgers I ever had in my life were from two places both in the Clear Lake (NASA) area.  Sadly, both Jalapeno Tree and S.W. Tootie's are now gone.  That leaves Dallas-based Mooyah, Austin-based Burger Tex and local Burger House about the best we have left in CL.  But here are some in Houston that don't get much if any mention:
C & D, 10606 Fuqua (haven't tried it yet, but it gets high marks from reviewers).
Shuttle Burger, 8405 Almeda-Genoa at Monroe (outstanding - pineapple on their signature model is great).
Blake's BBQ, 2916 Jeanette (supposedly has great burgers too).
5 Guys, Rosenberg (don't know about it).
Guy's Meat Market, Old 90A in SW Houston (smoked, but get it early before it dries out).
Smashburger, Main and Kirby (read reviews, but haven't tried yet).
Cheeburger Cheeburger, 106 Vintage Pk Blvd (ditto).
Fuddrucker (not as good here as they are in SoCal - Burger House is a copy of them).

Those that do get lots of raves, at Chow.com and elsewhere, include these:
Bubba's, 5230 Westpark
Cahill's, 903 Durham
Champ Burger, 304 Sampson (Galleria)
Christian's Tailgate, 2000 Bagby (I10 & Washington)
Cliff's, 12389 Kingsride (I10 west)
Famous D & F, 12121 Troulon (Alief area)
Lankford's Grocery, (Montrose area)
Little Bitty Burger Barn, 5503 Pinemont
Miller's Cafe, 2403 Bay Area Blvd at Space Center Blvd, CLC
Pappas, 5815 Westheimer
Rudyard's
Southwell's (three locations)
Texas Hamburger Palace, 5757 Ranchetta (off 59 near Alief)

In So Cal, where they have lots of great chili and hot dog haunts (and why is it we don't?), there aren't many gourmet burger joints, but the franchises are better than ours.  Among them, I had to have these at least once a week or so:
Fatburger (available with Oklahoma chili on it).
In N Out
Tommy's (their signature model has chili on it).

Good list Pirate Paul.  Have you been to all of these?  I've been to a few and haven't even heard of some of them. 

I heard Tookie's was closed bit never heard of the other one down there.  I've heard all those restaurants along 146 were going to have to move because of the widening of the highway so maybe they just decided not to rebuild where they are and may resurface elsewhere later.  I had the Burgundy marinated one, I think it was.  Pretty good.  Not my cup of 'tea' so to speak, but alright.

Christian's is real good.  I've only been to the I-10 location because parking is such a hassle in mid-town.  Lankford's is also very good.  Lankford's is written up on this site.  I also like Little Bitty Burger Barn, maybe a little more because the burgers are not so huge.

The next one I want to try is Sparkle's Hamburger Spot, just east of downtown.  The Chronicle reviewer picked it as one of her 2 best burger finds recently.  She's also done a review of Blake's recently which sounds real good.

Oh yes, I've tried Smashburger, wasn't too impressed but will go back.  There are lots of options.

Another one you might want to try is Gilhooley's Raw Bar in San Leon.  I've heard about that.  It's mostly an oyster bar but they're supposed to do a real good burger that they'll cook as raw as you want it.  No Health Department regulations in San Leon I guess or maybe not even a Health Department.  I hope to get down there some day.

I've been working on pizza joints, Cajun shacks and bbq places.

No,haven't been to them all, but I'm working on it.  Someone who talked to the owner of Tookies said they are not coming back.  Gilhooley's has so many other great foods that I've never tried their burger.
Boy, did I get feedback when I posted the above list on Mashtronauts.com's forum on burgers.  Can't wait to get back to Shuttle Burger again.
Here's more for the list, most not rated yet; hopefully there's at least one good burger in your part of town, wherever that may be. And I'm sure this isn't the end of this list either.

Cedar Street Hamburger Palace, 1319 Cedar Drive, LaMarque  (takes Fuddrucker concept to next level; no shortage of choices though the burger itself isn't very special.  Blue Bell ice cream, malts and shakes).
Cliff's Burgers, 1826 Country Place Pkwy, Pearland
Bases, Texas Avenue (e of FM146), Texas City
Texas Burgers & Fries, 10000 Palmer Hwy (EF Lowery near Century), Texas City
South Shore Beer Garden, Clear Lake Shores has a good burger, and a great CF steak sandwich.  Status unknown after the storm.
Outpost Tavern, Webster has a big juicy burger, but the bun eclipses it (too much bread).
Millers Cafe, CLC burgers are OK.  Millers and Burger Tex down the street both have a strange way of making a philly cheese steak;  it's on a round burger bun, but tastes good anyway.
Jakes Grill, Friendswood has a darned good bacon cheeseburger and onion rings. The chicken fried steak looks good.

Baby Barnaby's, 602 Fairview, H O U S T O N
Barnaby's (many locations)
Best O Burger, 4515 Mowery Rd
Better Burger, 702 Rankin Rd
Brady's Landing, 8505 Cypress
Buffalo Grille, 1301 S. Voss
Burger Depot, 17340 NW Fwy
Clay's, 17715 Clay Rd
EJ's Malt N Burger, 10309 Market St
Half Time, 17113 Clay Rd
Hoagie & Burger, 6601 Dixie Dr
Huddle House, 8619 Richmond
Joy Burger, 5710 Brittmore
Longhorn Cafe, 509 Louisiana & 1200 McKinney Pk Shop
Magic Burger, 1015 College (between Hwy 3 & I45) (better than C&D, but when you're this close to Shuttle Burger, it's gotta be the Shuttle)
Mytiburger, 2211 W 43rd & 9405 Kempwood
Omega Charburger, 1209 Clinton Dr
Pappas Burger, 7800 Airport Blvd
Rio Ranch, 9999 Westheimer
Sam's Burger & Gyros, 410 Almeda Mall
Tequila Joe's Bar & Grill, 4704 Richmond
Terlinqua Tx Border Cafe, 920 Studemont
Texas Burger, 2126 Aldine Bender
Tilted Kilt, 2000 Hwy 6 S.
Zoie's Burger, 13114 S. Post Oak

For my next burger joint investigation, I picked Mister Charburger on ratty Telephone Road. On the way, I passed by C&D on Fuqua, and noticed that their drive-through lane was backed up and busier than a one-armed man at a pancake eating contest, though the inside looked only moderately filled.
I had planned to at least look at Mr CB's burger if they didn't appear popular, but that idea was scrapped because there was no one in the place except the cook, and this was at lunch time too. You could say it was deader than Millie Sue's parlor after her uncle cut the cheese.
So I turned around and went back to C&D Burger Shoppe, Fuqua near Beamer. The drive-through was still doing land office business, and inside was moderate to light. While the burger wasn't bad, it was closer to ordinary than to special. You can get it with jalapenos or bacon, or even with a weiner on it. The onion rings were above average too, but not "way" above. They've also got hot dogs and other sandwiches and sides. Shakes but no malts.
But Shuttle Burger is just too close by for me to plan another visit to C&D. At this point, I have to say that Shuttle is "the" burger to beat anywhere south of Gulfgate. No shakes or malts, even though people keep asking for them.

Years back I spent a month in the Clear Lake/Pasadens area.. It was at the Lone Star Motel,  "Go Gilly, stay here.  Another fine establishment from those folks in Calcutta.
We did Tookies a few times.  My favorite was a littke seafood shack.  All I remember was it was just accross the bridge into Kehma.  It was by The Bug Haus(VW repair).  My partners friend owned it.  The seafood place was great.  I remeber my first time there.  I ordered fried scallops.  I must have gotten a pound of jumbo scallops.  They also had gumbo, red beans and rice.  I though it was great.
britt

I'm familiar with the area and those markers, but don't recall the name of the seafood place.  On the Seabrook side of the bridge, there is Outriggers (under the bridge) and Sundance (formerly Regatta Inn) in the shipyard.  There is also Pier 8, a buffet.  Maribelle's and I believe Pappadeaux, Capt Wick's and others were taken out by the storm.
On the Kemah side, the little old places I remember all got  replaced by the Fertitta/Landry conglomerate of operations on the boardwalk.  At that time only Joe Lee's relocated, to Clear Lake Shores.  Though Floyd Landry sold his name, he later opened Floyd's in Webster and Pearland.

We liked Whataburger & Fuddruckers when we lived there 20 years ago.

My daughter didn't like hamburgers, so her fave was James Coney Island.

I think Baby Barnaby's is just a breakfast spot.  Maybe they do burgers, I don't know.  Heck, Whataburger does burgers for breakfast so why not?

Edit:  Oh yeah, another one not on your lists: Stanton's City Bites.