Powers Hamburgers

1402 South Harrison Street, Fort Wayne, IN - (260) 422-6620

Overview Reviews(1) Rate Restaurant Upload Photos Bookmark Email

Posted By Cliff Strutz on 10/25/2012 8:51:00 AM

A visit to Powers Hamburgers in downtown Fort Wayne begs these questions: do you like the taste of grilled onions? Maybe more importantly, do you like the smell of grilled onions? Before you answer, a bit of a warning. On our most recent visit, we first picked up the powerful scent from a full two blocks away! But if that doesn't deter you, then you will be rewarded with some of the best burgers in the Midwest.

They use fresh, never frozen, ground beef to make mini-burgers, a.k.a. sliders. You can get either singles or doubles, with or without cheese, all of which come on a soft potato roll from nearby Aunt Millie's Bread Bakery. No matter what you get, your burger will be buried under a dizzying amount of onions that provide a big, almost burnt, caramelized flavor. Usually when eating sliders, I go with doubles to get a better meat-to-bun ratio. Here, the extra meat is needed to do battle with those onions. We have heard people order their burgers "light on the onions," but we say the more the better!

Powers Hamburgers used to be part of a sizable chain, but this is the only location still in business. The building itself dates back to 1940 and is a tiny, Art Deco gem that glistens at night. The J-shaped counter only has ten stools, but there are more seats along the back wall, plus a two person booth in the corner.

They offer a full breakfast menu and enticing looking pies, but we have always passed on dessert due to others waiting for our seats. Powers Hamburgers is cash only, opens early and closes late everyday but Sunday.

Scorecard

Overall: Legendary - Worth driving from anyplace

Double Cheeseburger	Single Cheeseburger

Rate this place

Reviewers Photos [Upload Your Photos]

"Three doubles fill up a plate and are usually about the right size meal for me. "
Cliff Strutz

"The excellent potato buns are set indirectly on the grill for a short amount of time to get nice and soft."
Cliff Strutz

"Meat and onions on the grill: be prepared to take that smell home with you, which we consider a small sacrifice for burgers this good."
Cliff Strutz

"The singles are still terrific, but they lack the amount of meat and onions that we crave."
Cliff Strutz

"The menu board: although we have seen others eating breakfast, we would still order burgers, even if we were here at 5:30AM."
Cliff Strutz

"We've heard customers come in and order up to 30 at a time!"
Cliff Strutz

"I was first tipped off to Powers several years ago by the friendly people at nearby Coney Island Wiener. We would love this place for the building alone."
Cliff Strutz