Big Spring Cafe

Big Spring Café

Huntsville, Madison County

This joint is on the original AL.com list of 22 (plus 35 submitted by the readers) Greasy Spoon Burger Joints in Alabama you have to visit before you die. 

This place is the epitome of a Southern Burger place, the embodiment of the Greasy Spoon concept, a joint in the pure sense of that meaning.

The building is located in a part of Huntsville that has clearly seen better days – although probably only for a short time. It is reminiscent of a single-wide trailer, with a tiny worn out gravel parking lot in front of it, and a weather beaten sign that lost all its colors except for beige.

On the inside, you are stepping into a world were grease is King and the smell alone would give any serious vegetarian an immediate heart attack. There is a counter with maybe a dozen chrome and red-leather bar stools, and if you don’t get a place right away, you just stand at the wall and patiently wait your turn. Which can easily happen anytime, because the place is usually packed come lunchtime. So I arrived shortly after they open at 10 in the morning and got a good seat in the middle of the counter. From there, I could easily observe how the cook would grab some beef out of a big plastic roll, form it into a burger patty, and place it on the sizzling griddle – all with his bare hands. Latex gloves are for health inspectors and sissys. In between patties, he cleans his hands on a towel that hangs from his pants pocket. Old style, truly old style.

I ordered two cheeseburgers all the way, which is a beef patty with cheese, lettuce, tomato, mustard, and mayonnaise, between a bun that is a bit crumbly, a little bit like a biscuit. The size of the burger resembles that of a slider, not of a Big Mac – but for under six bucks for two cheeseburgers and a bottle of Pepsi, one can easily afford an additional burger or two if so required.

The flavor of the burger is very typical, nothing special, and definitely awesome. The ingredients are all fresh, and there is enough grease involved to give the burger a delicious aroma.

And then there is the staff, which is extremely friendly and helpful. The whole joint is just old fashioned, very southern, and very original. This is were the locals go, and where they don’t mind strangers at all.