In the Wichita Mountains of Southwest Oklahoma there is a ramshackle building that has an exterior covered with rusty old signs and other paraphernalia. But while it might not look like much from the outside, on the inside you will find a hamburger that was recently named one of the top 3 burgers in America by Bon Appetit magazine.
The Meers Store and Restaurant, often referred to as the “world famous” Meers Store and Restaurant was featured on the Food Network special “America’s Best… Best Places For American Eats From Steak to Pizza” on Saturday August 18. The store’s owners and staff are giddy about the honor, but it is not the only one the restaurant has received this year. Meers was also named by Travelocity as one of their “Local Secrets, Big Finds for 2007.
The recognition does not stop there either. The Meers Store and Restaurant has the honor of being listed in the recent New York Times best seller “One Thousand Places to See in the U.S.A and Canada Before you Die.” It was named a must-visit location and the Tulsa World has voted the Meersburger as the “Best Burger in Oklahoma.”
While making a visit to the historical restaurant, diners can indulge in one of the world-famous Meersburgers, which is the size of a dinner plate. Actually it is 7 inches in diameter and made from Texas Longhorn beef that is raised on the family ranch belonging to Meers owner Joe Maranto. While you are there you can peruse the pictures on the wall of some of Meers most famous diners and check out their seismograph, installed in 1985 by the Oklahoma Geological Society, which monitors the Meers fault, a 15-mile long crack in the Earth’s crust.
The store is all that is left of a mining boomtown that prospered from 1901- 1905 during the gold rush days at the turn of the century. At its high point, Meers was a bustling little community with grocery stores, doctors, a café, a post office and an estimated population of 500 people with grit, and a determination to find their fortune in gold.
Burgers are not the only delicious food you can have at Meers. Their down home menu also offers steaks, barbecue, and home baked bread, as well as dessert. They are open for breakfast as well and serve mouth-watering Southern favorites such as dry cured ham, their special sausage, thick sliced slab bacon, pancakes, biscuits and gravy.
Their special Longhorn beef, which is free of antibiotics, pesticides, and growth hormones, is available for sale in their deli case, so customers can take it home and make their own burgers.
The Meers Restaurant and Store is located in the heart of the Wichita Mountains on Hwy 115. To get there from I-44 take the Hwy 49 exit and travel west about 4 miles, turning onto Hwy 58. Travel north for approximately 5 miles and watch for the signs for the Meers turn off. Traveling west for another 4 miles will put you right at the doorstep of the home of one of the best burgers in America.
Source:
http://www.meersstore.com
