Your Guide to Authentic Regional Eats
The sign outside says Hubba, but long-time fans call it Pat's, honoring the former owner who named it Pat's Hubba Hubba. Before that, it was Texas Quick Lunch, a diner we well remember from the earliest days of our Roadfood travels for its hot, hot chili and kindly waitresses. Few people come to Hubba for chili all by itself (although it can be ordered solo); the house specialty is a chili dog, known hereabouts as a Texas hot. Actually, there is a full menu written in permanent marker on white paper plates tacked to the wall, but I would reckon that 9 out of 10 meals served are hot dogs blanketed with no-bean, ground-beef chili and garnished with crisp chopped onions. It is a wanton combo – hot, greasy and messy – but with a personality so intense that when the yen for one strikes, not even prime filet mignon will cut the mustard. Those who need more sustenance than a brace of chili dogs get chili cheese fries on the side. To drink: Hubba water, which is tap water tinted pink by a dash of Hawaiian Punch.
