Kincaid’s Hamburgers: What’s Vegetarian Editorial Review

Kincaid’s is a Fort Worth beef-burger institution, and vegetarians eat a light meal here at best. There’s no veggie patty, no plant-based burger, and no vegetarian label of any kind. You can still put together a lunch from a grilled cheese sandwich, fried sides, and Blue Bell ice cream. Choose it when your group votes for burgers. Don’t pick it yourself.

Charles Kincaid’s Grocery & Market opened in 1946, and its butcher, O.R. Gentry, began griddling burgers for customers. Gentry bought the store in 1967, and his family still owns every location. Kincaid’s says on its FAQ page that it isn’t a franchise. Five restaurants now serve the Dallas-Fort Worth area: Camp Bowie, Hulen, and Alliance in Fort Worth, plus Southlake and Arlington. The kitchen grinds its patties in-house from never-frozen black Angus beef, which tells you where its attention goes.

Here’s what a vegetarian can order. The Grilled Cheese comes with American, cheddar, or pimento cheese. Kids get a grilled cheese too. Among the sides, you can pick crinkle-cut fries, hand-battered onion rings, fried okra with a dipping sauce, deviled eggs, whole jalapeños, and chips. Two of those sides plus the grilled cheese make a meal that fills you up, even if it isn’t much of a feast.

Skip the rest of the savory list. Kincaid’s chili is a classic Texas bowl of red, so treat the chili, Frito pie, chili cheese fries, and chili cheese dogs as meat dishes. The BLT has bacon. The burger bowls use the patties, and the chicken bowl uses chicken. Corny dogs and hot dogs are meat. The Original and Signature burgers, like the Cattleman and the Cowtown Deluxe, come with beef patties, and several add bacon.

Dessert is the best part of the vegetarian story. Kincaid’s serves hand-dipped Blue Bell ice cream cups and floats, milkshakes in chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, dreamsicle, or the seasonal flavor, and homemade banana pudding. You can add banana slices to a shake for 50 cents or make it a malt for 25 cents.

Kitchen separation matters here. Chicken strips and corn dogs share the menu with the okra and onion rings, and Kincaid’s doesn’t say whether those fried items share fryer oil with the meat. Its FAQ also says it can’t promise an allergen-free kitchen. An allergen guide in PDF form covers fryer oil, French fries, and onion rings among its items. If you avoid shared fryers, ask the staff before you order the okra or the rings.

For takeout, call the location you plan to visit, because online ordering is still coming soon. Kincaid’s takes no reservations. Large parties can call ahead and ask the staff to help. Beer is on the menu, with Shiner, Miller Lite, Coors Light, and Modelo in bottles. The Hulen restaurant at 4825 Overton Ridge Boulevard, Suite 328, opens 11am to 9pm Monday through Saturday and 11am to 7pm on Sunday, and its phone is (817) 370-6400. Camp Bowie closes earlier, at 8pm Monday through Saturday and 3pm on Sunday.

Treat Kincaid’s as a backup for a mixed group, and bring an appetite for sides. Order the pimento cheese grilled cheese, a basket of onion rings, and a strawberry shake, then let the carnivores fight over the Cattleman.