Quick Bite: JL’s Southwest Brisket Burgers

Hefty brisket burgers have replaced breakfast tacos in the small adobe-sided trailer parked outside Lewis Barbecue on Nassau Street. Now styled JL’s Southwest Brisket Burgers, its new menu is based upon three of owner/pitmaster Lewis’s favorite things: brisket, hot guts sausage, and hatch green chiles.

Brisket burgers, hot guts dogs, and lots of Hatch chiles comprise the menu at the JL's Southwest Brisket Burgers (Dispatch Staff)

The faint of heart can settle for a “gringo burger” topped with bacon and pickles, but that’s hardly keeping with the spirit of things. A chileburger is what’s in order, and, yes, that’s chile with an ‘e.’

Be sure to get extra napkins and plenty of water before sitting down at one of the long picnic tables under the live oaks. The big eight-ounce patties of ground beef brisket are grilled over mesquite then piled between two soft, buttery buns, and the fire-roasted Hatch chiles (either green or red) blend with the melted cheese and pale orange special sauce into a delightfully sloppy mess.

Those chiles have a subtle, sneaky heat that doesn’t hit you right up front but rather tip-toes in with each additional bite. On the side, the seasoned batter of the thick-cut wedge fries really hold in the heat.

The little adobe trailer at Lewis Barbecue has shifted from breakfast tacos to Hatch chile brikset burgers (Dispatch Staff)

We weren’t daring enough to finish things off with one of the green or red chile sundaes, which top vanilla or chocolate custard with candied Hatch chiles and either toasted pine nuts (for the green) or candied pecans (for the red). But we suspect they’re probably pretty good.

Lewis says the burgers are an homage to the green chile cheeseburgers he always orders at roadside stands when he’s visiting back home in his native El Paso. We can see why he goes back home so often.

The JL’s trailer is open for lunch and dinner daily starting at 11 a.m.