Houston Blog

The "Big Adrian Burger" features a one-pound ground beef patty on a toasted bun with lettuce, sliced tomatoes, purple onion, mustard, mayo and pickles. It sells for $6.50 and looks like a meatloaf on a tossed salad with some bread thrown in. You can cut it in half and feed two hungry longshoremen, or cut in it quarters and feed four people quarter-pounders.

We hadn't had a Big Adrian Burger since the closing of the original Adrian's Burger Bar, a soul food burger café on Sonora St. near Wheatley High School in the Fifth Ward. The neighborhood favorite closed after head cook Val Wilson (Adrian's mom) had some medical problems last Christmas.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, the "Big Adrian" reappeared in the Communication Workers of America building at 1730 Jefferson (713 752 2233). Adrian Cooper and his mom Val Wilson have taken over the snack bar in the union local formerly known as the Local Café. The new business is called Adrian's Local Café. Look for the sign facing St. Joseph's Parkway. They also sell a petite half-pounder called the "Little Adrian Burger" for $4.50.

The Fifth Ward's loss is downtown's gain. -- Robb Walsh