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Hank's Hamburgers - Okie Dokie with Cheese

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Hank’s Hamburgers has been a Tulsa institution since 1949 opened by Hank Henry. The Henry family has had a big influence in Tulsa burgers when you take into account this landmark along with his brother Bill Henry’s establishment of Bill’s Jumbo Burgers in 1960. Current owners Dennis and Marilyn Felts have been running Hank’s for around 6 years now.

Much has been written of Hank’s Hamburgers over the years. The Tulsa World’s Scott Cherry (link: Tulsa World - Dining Out - Hank’s Hamburgers - 10.08.04) wrote a great article on Hank’s that listed several interesting facts: 1) Singers Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter celebrated their 20th wedding anniversary at Hanks, 2) Hanks was featured in a New York Times article (link: New York Times - Dining & Wine - 09.08.04), 3) Today’s Show Al Roker filmed a segment of Roker on the Road for Food Network. I couldn’t find the link to this show on the Food Network’s website but while I was visiting Hanks the owner Dennis Felts was nice enough to pop out a portable disc player which had the episode and let me watch it while my son and I were waiting for our burgers. It was a great piece. I’d also like to point out that Dennis was very busy working the grill but was nice enough to do this for me. Just down right great people.

But I’m not here to write about what others wrote, oh crap, too late. Anyway, its Halloween and I was thinking that Hank’s would be a great place to eat for two reasons. One was that my son Zach has been leaning toward pounding down those really big burgers lately. On a previous trip to Hank’s he easily put away the Hank’s Big Okie which is 4 patties that are 1/4 lb each totaling 1 lb and offered to finish mine that I was taking home. I had heard through the grapevine that Hank’s has a monster of a burger that is an off menu item called the Okie Dokie which is 6 patties totaling 1.5 lb’s. Being a monster burger seems fitting for Halloween. The second reason I thought Hank’s would be great for Halloween was for their home made Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls. If you kind of like Reese’s PB Cups you will LOVE these.

Sure enough my son went with the Okie Dokie. I let him since I love the name of this burger. On my last visit I took home half of my Big Okie therefore I decided to go with the Double Double, i.e. double meat and double cheese. As you can see from the sign close to the grill - our burgers come with mustard, pickles, fried onions, raw onions, lettuce and tomato. I left the lettuce and tomato off. No reason to do anything healthy now.

There was something that was bothering me on this visit. I was having a hard time putting my finger on it. I noticed something was missing on the building sign up front and something looked different inside. When I asked my son if he noticed anything different he stated they switched from Pepsi to Coke. Dennis confirmed this for us. Hallelujah, I love my Coke.

Our burgers soon arrived. I love the differences between different burger joints in that some will smash their patties together to make larger patties while others will keep then single and just stack them. I personally love the variety. Hanks keep their patties as single and stacks them. My Double Double was great. The bun is very fresh and nicely toasted. The patties have a good flavor, have a great sear with the fried in onions and the cheese adds a nice creaminess. My son’s Okie Dokie is another subject altogether. It was by far the best looking super stack I’ve ever seen. Each patty had a perfect sear and the cheese was just oozing all over. My challenge to my son was that he could not have the Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls until he was finished with his burger. If your thinking that I did this so that I would increase my chance of eating his then you are correct. He started out strong, was easily keeping up with me. Toward the last quarter I started to see some strain in his eating and noticed he wasn’t hitting the fries and onion rings very hard. That’s okay, I’ll help out on those onion rings. I mentioned to him that its okay if he doesn’t finish it and we could just take it home for later and he replied - ha, no way, I’m finishing this. And that he did, although he was hurting. After a refresh of Coke he ended up putting way the fries, onion rings (that were left) and his chocolate covered pb balls (dang it). I got close to getting a dozen of those Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls to go but thought of all the candy I have at home that I will be handing out later in the evening, you know, one for you and one for me.

Thanks you Henry brothers and those that picked up after in keeping this history going.

What a beautiful day for a burger!
Something is missing

Marilyn and Dennis Felts running the toaster and grill

Basic menu - Don’t pass up the Hank’s Old Fashioned Candy!!!

Waylon and Jessi sitting in a tree
Didn’t go off - whew

My Double Double - yum yum

My Son’s Okie Dokie - yum yum yum yum yum yum

Crispy Fries Crispy Onion Rings

The absolute best Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls I’ve Ever Had - EVER!!!

Starting Strong

Finished but not looking so good

Rating Criteria
Cook to Order: No / Well
Thickness: Thin (each patty)
Notes: Onions cooked in
Burger Cost: $4.75 Double / $10.09 Okie Dokie
Burger: 8 of 10
Fries/Rings: 7 of 10
Other (Chocolate Covered PB Balls): 9 of 10
Final Word: A Monster of a Burger,
Don’t pass up the Choc PB Balls

Name:

Hank’s Hamburgers

Address:

8933 E Admiral Place

Tulsa, OK 74115

918.832.1509

Hours:

Tue/Sat 10am-7pm