by Steven Doyle
We do not celebrate all the supposed national food holidays, especially since burgers has at least three including todays National Cheeseburger celebration. Actually this is one celebration that we should all stand behind.
Coincidentally, we had a few delicious cheeseburgers last night at Pat and Mike’s in North Dallas. This is Pat and Mike who happen to have the last name Snuffer. Pat Snuffer opened his namesake restaurant when he was thirty years old and since has gone on to be one of the most celebrated restaurateurs in Dallas. We could name a few others, but this isn’t their day, is it? 
As chance would have it, Snuffer lost his small chain of coveted restaurants, but has settled into a beautiful spot just off Preston Road and Frankford. Nothing can hold this burgermeister down.
To some that may seem like Plano, but rest assured, it is Dallas. No one will attempt to indoctrinate you to become a van driving suburbanite if you venture to Pat and Mike’s. Seriously. What they will do is feed you some excellent burgers, cheese fries and pizzas. Yes, Snuffer is in the pizza game since he inherited a pretty cool oven from the former tenants, Gene and Julie.
The pizzas are seriously good. Snuffer has instructed his staff to make the pizzas just as they might enjoy them if making for themselves. That is how Snuffer rolls. The result is a crispy yet airy thin crust with a good amount of sauce and a hefty slew of choice ingredients. Try the meatball. Life changing.
This brings us to the cheese fries. These are the very same delicious recipe that only Snuffer can produce, with hand shaved cheese from giant blocks of cheddar, house-made fries, and mounds of green onion, jalapeno and fresh bacon crumbles. Ask Snuffer about the cheese and you will get a seven and a half minute speech on the proper care and handling of cheddar. You might want to become a near suburbanite after tasting these for the very first time.
Today is National Cheeseburger Day, which is why we are actually writing this, so lets discuss burgers. The Snuffer made burger at Pat and Mike’s is akin to taking a thrill ride that spans the open air with a cool breeze sifting through your locks, with plenty of up and down roller coaster happiness beating in your belly. The burgers are an ode to joy that rings out in your mouth not too unlike a wide eyed Alex DeLarge screams to his droogs, “Praise God”!
You get the idea. A fat and happy half pound slab of beef, smoky sizzled to a perfect medium rare (cooked more if you are nasty) with choice ingredients such as sumptuous layers of cheese, lettuce and tomato, and possibly bacon crumbles. Oh, please order the charred green chile to further entice your buds. Please do. The bun is never an after thought. Made soft, yet firm and relenting topped with a regiment of poppy seeds. This bun is functional and dutifully serves its purpose to hold its innards intact. Not something you witness in an every day burger.
There is a full bar to back up this cheeseburger. Choose one of the many craft and draft beers, or go with the house margarita. The version on the rocks has a top shelf blue agave tequila along with a splash of El Presidente to tame the cocktail. Go in for happy hour (there are two each day) and make yourself smile on the cheap. Not that anything at Pat and Mike’s is expensive to begin with. You know who is running the place, and he is a reasonable man.
