by WES FERGUSON
Why would Shirley and Alvin Gattis drive 40 miles round trip, week in and week out, just to eat a cheeseburger at Dan’s in Buda?
“Why not?” said Shirley, who was munching one during the lunch rush on Monday.
Sitting across from Shirley, in a ’50s-style diner booth, her husband gripped his burger in both hands, sized it up and took a bite. Seasoned grease puddled on the tray below.
“It’s just a juicy, old homestyle burger,” Alvin said. “Not like the dry stuff you get at the rest of ’em.” With those other burgers found closer to his home in Del Valle, he added, “you need to super-size your drink just to chew ’em.”
That’s not necessary at Dan’s, a small Austin chain with four locations. Since opening around five years ago, the Buda spot has developed such a following that “loyal” doesn’t begin to describe it, according to manager Marcos Alcantara.
“I swear to you, we have people who come in every day,” he said. “I know them by their food. I know what you eat and what you drink.”
There’s more than one secret to Dan’s success, he added. The first is consistency. Not much has changed since Alcantara went to work at the Lamar Boulevard location in Austin as a college student in 1985.
“Everything you see in that burger is top quality,” he said. “We use fresh meat, which not a lot of people do anymore. We spend a little more on our ingredients, but it’s worth it.”
Another is Dan’s willingness to customize any burger.
“Burn my meat. Medium rare, whatever,” Alcantara said. “We do whatever you guys want.”
That’s just fine with the Gattises.
“We’re enjoying retirement with Dan’s,” Shirley said.
