BURTON SHORT STOP, COTTON PICKIN’ KITCHEN

culinary destination Carrying on an old family tradition

Local icon Burton Short Stop serves up local favorites to generations of diners.

Having grown up in Burton Short Stop, today Mike Harmel still carries on a tradition that his family started years ago. “My parents sold out in ’73,” said Harmel. “When a group of five of us bought it back again ten years ago, there were not many choices to eat in Burton. Everything was closed. Now I bought it out and I have my three kids and fiancé, Molly, to help me.”

Known far and wide for their hamburgers, Burton Short Stop has a varied menu that includes homecooked food and classic favorites. Offering lunch specials six days a week, they also operate as a full-service convenience store.

“We have homemade lunch specials,” shared Harmel. “We use fresh hamburger meat for our burgers, never frozen. Our onion rings are also kind of a big deal since we hand-batter them. For breakfast, we do pancakes, omelets, bacon and eggs. We use Burton Processing and they make a real good pan sausage and that’s where we get most of our meats from. Those in a hurry can pick up a breakfast taco or kolaches that we bring in from Kountry Boys in Brenham. On Friday nights, we have a ribeye special. I’m cooking and I do a seasoned homestyle French fry with the skin on. Diners can also choose fish on Friday night. In addition to inside dining, there are picnic tables outside and a back porch. We also sell a lot of food to go at night. Barbecue is available from time to time on weekends. Sundays we don’t cook, but we still have gas and cold beer.”

Burton Short Stop is located at 12400 FM 390 and online on Facebook. "We use fresh hamburger meat for our burgers, never frozen. - Mike Harmel

Slow and low, and "to-go"

Cotton Pickin’ Kitchen offers old-school barbecue, Burton-style.

One of the oldest running gas stations in the state, Cotton Pickin’ Kitchen started as a collaborate endeavor of Greg Malloy, his wife, Trina, and his parents, Claire and Ted. Although they have long been known as a place to get fuel, a cold drink and even auto repairs, they’ve only recently offered grab-andgo barbecue.

“We kept selecting different names as we were building and developing,” said Malloy. “One day my wife asked me ‘What are we going to call that cotton pickin’ thing?’ and, well, there was the name. Plus, cotton is our heritage in Burton. As part of Malloy’s, the restaurant focuses primarily on barbecue. People can come for a little bit of everything; get coffee in the morning, come back for an inspection and oil change, and grab a brisket sandwich for lunch”

Staying true to his roots, Malloy is proud to smoke his barbecue the old fashioned way. “I’m old school,” shared Malloy. “I use an old-style pit with indirect cooking and native wood, primarily oak and pecan. We are slow and low. We get it right out and put our sandwiches together just like we were going to eat it ourselves, country-style. And we always run out of barbecue; we make it and it’s gone and we make it again.”

Positioned on what used to be a quiet connection between Brenham and Austin, today Malloy takes advantage of the increased traffic to drive his unique brand.

“We’re renormalizing eating in a gas station again,” added Malloy. “We are more of a country store and we are developing our niche as a restaurant. We focus on quality, not quantity.”

Cotton Pickin’ Kitchen is a part of Malloy’s at 13200 US-290 and online on Facebook. BURTON, TEXAS | 15