Players Scores Big With Generations of Hungry Hamburger Customers

Walk into Players (300 West MLK) on the UT campus in central Austin and you'll likely by greeted by one of these gentlemen, Daniel and his uncle, Carlos Oliveira.  Carlos and partner Eddie Hempe started Players nearly 30 years ago and obviously has a winning recipe for great hamburgers, excellent customer service, affordable food and easy access to a wide variety of people.  The Longhorns graduates know how to cater to their audience.  You may spot the Longhorns head football coach Mack Brown or any number of sports team members eating a Players burger, maybe a politician or two, workers from neighboring businesses, and of course plenty of college students.  The name comes from the arcade games in the dining room, the number of sports team members who love to eat there, and the large flat screen TV you can always be sure to catch a game on!

I first walked into Players several years ago because someone I worked with recommended I go there immediately.  I did and yes, it's one great burger.  I've been in to dine many other times, so when I walked in Thursday with the intention of reviewing Players, I ordered a burger I normally don't get - the jalapeno cheese burger.

What you'll notice eating the burger right off the bat is that it's juicy and is loaded down with the fixings.  But what you'll notice after getting all the way through it is it stays enjoyable and juicy the entire time!  Some burgers will start off great, juicy, and full of flavor but gets less juicy and flavorful the closer to the end you get.  That's a big difference!

Daniel and Carlos say the secret ingredients to their success include fresh products, made to order burgers and patties cooked over an open flame.  Carlos says he also doesn't salt the fries, but rather leaves them plain so the customer can decide how salty to make it.

The affordable price is worth mentioning again.  Customers rarely can find a meal under $10 for lunch these days.  My jalapeno burger, along with a half order of french fries and a soda, cost me $7 flat.  For comparison, last week at Your Mom's Burger Bar, I paid a little over $14 for a hamburger, soda, an order of regular fries for me and an order of sweet potato fries for the little guy.  Carlos told me he knows workers nearby and college students can't afford to pay $10 or more for a hamburger.  He keeps his prices low and the burgers tasting great.  That, along with his winning combination of tasty food and being a truly local business in Austin, means you can't go wrong with Players.

Give Players a call at (512) 478-9299 and drop by to get a burger.  This is one Austin staple you can't afford to pass up.  You can listen to the podcast with Carlos and Daniel by clicking the play button above, and scroll through the pictures on the slide show below.

Under new Federal Trade Commission guidelines, which require bloggers to disclose information regarding potential conflicts for items reviewed in their blogs, the Austin Citysphere was not compensated for this story.

Tough Times Call for Tough Measures: An Experiment in Social and Financial Simplicity

Obtaining financial peace is a dream millions of Americans envision, and it's one Sarah and I are actively pursuing.  Last night we opened up Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover book, after receiving it months ago from a friend Sarah went to high school with (Sandra Horton).  Not too long ago, Sandra and her husband achieved financial peace after just two and a half years of major sacrifice, paying off thousands of dollars in debt, including their mortgage.  To celebrate, the couple invited family and friends to commemorate the occasion and bought a case of Ramsey's book to pass out to friends.  We were one of the lucky ones to get a copy (in the mail) and now have finally taken on the challenge for ourselves.

As boring as the first paragraph might be with no creative frills to state the simple, I want to get right to the point.  We are dead serious about doing this.  Because of this, Sarah canceled our cell phone service today, amounting to a savings of $200 a month and $2,400 a year.  We're opting for a free service offered by Google (Google Voice) to communicate, although it means not staying connected 24/7 as we have become accustomed to in the past few years of our lives.  Upon the announcement, many of our friends have congratulated us in this new phase of our lives, and many have said we are crazy.  I say it's definitely crazy, but only in the sense that I am crazy to get this debt monkey off my back once and for all.

We tried to sell Sarah's car tonight but that didn't go as expected.  But we are going to be tightening down and throwing money at debt, following the Dave Ramsey plan to get the lenders out of our lives and welcoming the peace and love of financial freedom, plus giving to our creator God even more, the proper place the latter two deserve.

But this does bring up an interesting point in the process: becoming less connected than we have known, and allowing ourselves to become vulnerable once again to the simplicity of a couple in love enjoying the bond to a beautiful baby boy.  Disconnecting cell phone service means no instant access to email, Twitter, Facebook, voice mail, and phone calls in or out (an emergency phone or employer cell phones notwithstanding).  This will hit me harder than Sarah, as she is able to access the internet all day long with the new system we're adopting.  I will have to rely on WiFi and wireless internet connection via work for my connections as I rove central Texas on the job.  I suspect I will learn the WiFi hotspots of Austin quite well - just as I have learned the restrooms as a man on the go.  Because, after all, when a man has to go, he has to go!

In this world of instant connectivity, it will be very interesting, dare I say freeing, to experience time without being connected to the inner-world of the internet 100 percent of the time.  I am looking forward to untying myself from the interconnected web of social media and email just as much as I am scared of it.  But, in the end, I will come out debt-free and with a higher appreciation of a world I may have been missing because my cell phone put blinders on my eyes.  Finally, I will be financially free and understand what it will mean to cut the communications ties. 

Amish?  Hardly.  Insane?  Totally.  Different?  Most definitely.  What we need to do?  Absolutely.

Seven Burgers of Central Texas: the Beginning

As we here at The Austin Citysphere begin the mission to find the best burger in central Texas, we stopped at an old favorite.  Old is, well, relative.  Cafe Canela, formerly Geaux Burger, formerly Mooyah Burger, is a fantastic burger place in north Austin.  We learned today Cafe Canela is managed and owned by Alvaro Valencia, who used to manage (but not own) Geaux and Mooyah Burger.  Valencia has kept up the "old" style burger that kept us coming back for more.  Thankfully, the burger is still around.  Following Mooyah's closure, we were devastated!  Only this time with Cafe Canela, he's added burritos and fajitas as well for a Mexican flair.

It's only fitting the journey begins here as we talk to Beatriz Tavera, an employee who told us quite frankly, she avoids eating at home so she can eat when she gets to work.  That's a compliment from a cashier who says her past places of employment weren't always up to par with the food, and she'd bring her own lunch to work!

On a related note, ACS received word from a good friend, Carol Pfeiffer, who recommended the Horny Toad in Cranfills Gap as one of the best burgers around!  Their title is apparently verified because they were nominated by Ride Texas magazine for the honor!  Looks like ACS has a little road trip ahead... boy, it's gonna be tough eating so many delicious burgers for this contest.

If you have a burger suggestion, send it by clicking here.

Seven Week Series on the Best Burgers in Central Texas

What do Five Guys,  Moonies, Jackalope, and (Bastrop's) Roadhouse all have in common?  They're all places I've eaten a great, scratch that, an amazing burger.  Granted, Five Guys is a national chain and the rest are local.  That's why I want to set out to find the best burger in central Texas.

And I need you to be the guide!

Let me know which places you love to eat a great burger.  Is it Your Mom's, or one of my personal favorite's Cafe Canela, formerly Geaux Burger, formerly Mooyah?  Whatever it is, I need to know!

Over the next seven weeks, The Austin Citysphere turns into The Austin Burgersphere!  Reviews from other customers are greatly appreciated, and you can send them to me here.

Bring on the burgers!