Oklahoma has its own burger—a smashburger with a boatload of grilled onions pressed into it on the grill. Its creation is credited to Ross Davis, who first served it during the 1920s and Great Depression at The Hamburger Inn in El Reno, about 130 miles west-southwest of Tulsa along the historic Route 66. While that diner is no longer with us, other burger joints have popped up to fill the void. And while the Fried-Onion Burger was primarily associated with El Reno, Google knows what you mean when you search for “Oklahoma Burger.” And on a weekend trip to Tulsa, I went looking for someone serving it.
The First Burger
What I found was a bit more burger history: Oklahoma claims to be the birthplace of the hamburger itself—served on a bun, that is. (As opposed to just the standalone meat patty or the 1885 creation of 15-year old Charlie Nagreen of Seymour, Wisconsin, who was selling meatballs at a county fair and took to smushing his wares into patties to be served between bread slices for easier eating.) No, this is the classic bun-burger-bun hamburger as we’ve come to know it.
The year was 1891, when Oscar “Weber Bilby” grilled beef burgers on a pig-iron grill for a 4th of July barbecue in Tulsa and served them on dedicated bread rolls. They were a big hit, and he continued to make his burgers for picnics and the like. The Bilby family eventually opened a hamburger stand in 1933 and grilled those burgers on that original grill from the Independence Day picnic.
Lo and behold, Weber’s Superior Root Beer Drive-in is still in operation, though it’s moved across the parking lot from its previous location. Weber’s is not 10 minutes east off of the historic Route 66 where it passes through Tulsa, the capital of the famed highway. Oscar’s grandson Rick Bilby and his wife, Jennifer, managed the joint for more than 45 years, retiring in 2022 and leaving their daughter, Michelle, and her husband, Bryan Merrell, at the helm. Jennifer can’t remember exactly when she started working for her parents, but she said, “I started *getting paid* to work here when I was like 12.”
They no longer use the drive-up window, but when it’s too busy for the little lobby to accommodate the crowd, she goes outside with paper and a clipboard to take orders. Notably, Weber’s was always known for their in-house root beer, and at one point 67 independent eateries from Texas and the Midwest out to the East Coast were serving it. Only two Weber’s Famous Root Beer stands still exist, both in New Jersey, and with no affiliation with the original. But currently, the Merrells are working on a major distribution deal to put Weber’s Root Beer back into the larger world.
When I popped into Weber’s on a Saturday afternoon, Michelle and Bryan had just gotten through the lunch rush, but a steady stream of customers continued. I tried to stay out of their way in the kitchen as Bryan made me my first onion burger. He was quick to point out that Tulsa didn’t originate it, but he and Michelle had decided it had a place on their menu.
Making the Onion Burger
If there was anything good about the not-so-great Great Depression, it was the mettle of those who lived through it, and part of that was the ability to find substitutes and stretch ingredients. (See the Depression Cake my grandmother used to make without eggs.) Burgers filled out with cheap and abundant onions quickly became a thing.
Bryan started with a heaping pile of sliced onion on the grill, enough to fully cover a wide smashburger patty. He gave them a squirt of water to quickly steam them a bit, then added beef tallow to let them brown a bit. Meanwhile, he laid out a prepped third-pound beef patty with parchment paper on it, which prevented the meat from sticking to the round cast-iron press he used to smash the patty on the grill. He sprinkled this with his secret seasoning blend (salt and pepper at a minimum). He caught me eyeing the motley collection of spice bottles above the prep station as I tried to guess what his recipe might be. Red herrings. “Those are up there just to throw people off,” he laughed.
“I use this little slicer on the wall over here,” Bryan indicated as he smashed the fried onions into the burger just before flipping it and started preparing the bun. “You just gotta have pickles.” He uses hamburger slice pickles from Best Maid, the largest family-owned pickle producer in the United States, based in Fort Worth, Texas. “Because when people are like, ‘man, where do you get these pickles at?’ you know these are so good.” Customers ask for extra, he says, “and just sit there and eat them.”
He wrapped my burger in foil and filled a big cup with some of the best root beer I’ve ever had. “It’s not fast food, it’s good food,” he said of the small mom-and-pop venture. “We get an hour long wait real fast. People wait, they want to wait.” And their fan base goes way beyond Tulsa. Rapper Danny Boy O’Connor (“Jump Around,” anyone?) tells Merrell this is his favorite spot in Tulsa, as does Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer Jack White. “We got pictures of him with our son when he was a baby.”
If you ever get there, the burgers are highly recommended, but be sure to order a glass of their outstanding root beer!
Oklahoma Burger
Makes 1 burger
- 1/3 pound ground chuck (80/20)
- 1 small yellow onion, thinly sliced
- Tallow, lard, butter or plant-based fat for frying onions
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 toasted hamburger bun
- Condiments as desired, but definitely pickles
Heat a stainless-steel or cast-iron grill or a large cast-iron pan to medium-high. Place the onions in a tangled pile on one side of the grill, and add a couple tablespoons of water to steam them up a bit. Then add about a tablespoon of tallow or another fat to them and leave them to sauté while you prepare the burger.
Roll the burger into a ball, then with a piece of parchment paper over it, use a burger press or a stiff metal spatula to smash the burger to about a quarter-inch thickness. Season it with salt and pepper.
Put the two halves of the bun on the grill or a separate pan to toast them.
When the onions have caramelized a bit, scoop them onto the burger patty and press them firmly into the meat. When the burger has developed a crust on the grill side, flip the onion side down and allow it to brown a bit. If adding cheese, this is the moment to do so.
Serve this on the toasted bun with mustard, ketchup, and pickles (as desired).
