Lankfords Burgers

About

In a city where old buildings vanish overnight and restaurants seemingly come and go with the seasons, Lankford Grocery & Market remains exactly where it’s always been, a white and red wooden building tucked among the narrow streets of Houston’s historic Montrose area.

Its silhouette resembles the modest bungalows that once defined this neighborhood. The structure is unassuming, close to the ground, and blends right into the neighborhood. However, step through the door, and you’ll find a place that’s outlasted the competition not with reinvention, but with legacy.

Founded in 1937, Lankford’s began as a corner grocery store, morphed into an icehouse, and eventually became one of Houston’s most beloved burger joints. Through these years, Lankford’s has earned local devotion and national recognition without ever leaving its plot of land on Dennis Street.

Still family-run, still committed to scratch cooking, and still drawing regulars from blocks away and states apart, it has become something more than a restaurant. It’s a record of the neighborhood that built it, and a quiet refusal to disappear.

When Aubrey and Nona Lankford opened their first fruit stand in 1937, they were serving a part of Houston that was self-built and self-sustained. Freedmen’s Town, located in the city’s Fourth Ward, was founded by formerly enslaved African Americans following the Civil War. It quickly developed into a thriving Black community of craftsmen, educators, clergy and entrepreneurs. Brick streets were laid by hand, while churches and corner stores marked every few blocks. The Lankfords, like many others, set down roots and opened their doors to the neighborhood.

By 1939, the couple had moved the business into a new two-story wood-frame building, where the family lived upstairs and operated a full-service grocery below. Along with staples and produce, Lankford Grocery offered a washateria and a check-cashing service. The business became a place not just to take care of errands, but also to linger, trade stories and stay connected. For decades, it served as a hub in a neighborhood that was slowly being reshaped by outside pressures.

As highways cut through the Fourth Ward in the 1950s and ’60s, homes were demolished, businesses shuttered, and families pushed out. Lankford’s remained. Its location, just east of Montrose and within walking distance of downtown, would become increasingly desirable. But the building remained intact, and the family continued working behind the same counter.

By the 1980s, the grocery business had changed and so had the neighborhood. Eydie Lankford Prior, Aubrey and Nona’s daughter, took over the store with her husband, Deryl “Cotton” Ridenhour. They converted it into an icehouse (part convenience store, part gathering place) where patrons could cash a paycheck, buy a six-pack, and sit around and talk for a while—not a lot different to start off with. Eventually, Eydie began serving hot food: sandwiches, daily plate lunches, enchiladas, and on certain days, burgers.

At first, the food was an afterthought. There was no printed menu. Burgers came wrapped in foil, made with whatever was on hand.

Word spread, however. The burgers were good: thick, salty and unfussy. In short order, regulars began coming just to eat. Over time, the grill replaced the groceries, and the dartboard and pool table gave way to tables and chairs. By the late ’90s, Lankford’s had become a full-fledged restaurant, drawing office workers, construction crews and long-time neighbors for lunch each day.

A 1998 feature in the Houston Chronicle introduced Lankford’s to a broader audience. The parking lot began to fill earlier. Weekend lines formed out the door. But the pace inside stayed slow and deliberate. The kitchen kept turning out burgers from a short-order grill. The specials—fried catfish on Fridays, chicken-fried steak on Tuesdays—remained hand-written on a whiteboard.

In 2009, Lankford’s was featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Guy Fieri came to town, and the Firehouse Burger, slathered in cayenne butter, habanero sauce and jalapeños, became a national headliner. Overnight, the restaurant’s notoriety exploded. But inside, little changed. The red tables were still pushed close together and condiments sat in squeeze bottles in the middle of the table. The wait might be a little longer now than it was before, but the burger was the same.

The success didn’t turn Lankford’s into a flashier version of itself. The owners didn’t add televisions or bar seating, nor did they chase flash-in-the-pan trends. Lankford’s stayed local and rooted in heritage. Even today, it’s not unusual to see three generations of the same family eating together—grandparents remembering the grocery days, children ordering something off the menu board, someone pointing to the photo of Eydie on the back wall.

After more than 10 years in the kitchen, Eydie Lankford Prior retired in 2021. The business passed to her daughter, Jessica Prior, and Jessica’s husband, Paul. Jessica had worked at Lankford’s since she was a teenager, washing dishes, prepping food, learning the rhythms of the place. Now, as co-owner, she represents the third generation to run the business.

“This place is very special. It’s a big part of me,” said Jessica. “Lankford’s is family. There’s something about this old building and the customers in the neighborhood. That’s the kind of customers we want here. Ones that we love and that love us.”

Under her leadership, Lankford’s has modernized in small but essential ways—introducing digital ordering, accepting credit card payments, adjusting staff schedules to support a better work-life balance. But the fundamentals haven’t shifted: Prep begins before dawn, the meat is still ground fresh, the sauces are still made in-house, and nearly everything is made from scratch.

In May 2023, Lankford’s opened a second location in Bellaire. The space is larger, sleeker, with a self-pour beer wall and ample parking.  In Jan 2026, Lankford's opened a third location in The Woodlands.  It is our largest location to date located on the Woodlands Waterway.

The recipes are the same; no one is missing out. The new restaurants offer not a replacement of the original but an expansion, and continuation, of the legacy while protecting the original location.