Stop! Stop! Stop! 
HBG on Kirby in the Village was the first place I ate in Houston when I arrived in Sept 1970. Last one was Yaupon @ Alabama, now replaced by the growing U of St Thomas (or maybe the big one in the underground of Greenway Plaza which was very mediocre because they had to pre-prepare patties etc to serve the lunch time crush). Still miss 'em.
Me too on Beck’s, just don’t get it. But I have had very good chili from there, rather thin and soupy but very tasty.
I lived near the Montrose HBG on Miramar. I also had a lot of weekday lunches at the one downtown nearly Foley’s. The Yaupon location was my favorite. If you are ever in Austin the Texas Chili Parlor’s chili burger is pretty darned good. Sandy’s is, too.
I think Texas Chili was open by the time I left (May, 1970), but I’ve never been there. I knew of Sandy’s but never went - I thought it was just mostly local kids/highschoolers.
In my time, Moore’s/Mooreburger (?) had a place on 24th, one block off the Drag, and one on 19th. Not very special but you went there anyway. I also liked the Master Burger at Toddle House on 19th and 29th! TH was my high scale eatery for a couple of years . Holiday House on the Drag @ 19th was awesome; there was also one out on Windsor @ Enfield, just a couple of blocks from where I lived before leaving. But the best burger was the Frisco burger from the Night Hawk. Undoubtedly better quality beef was used and they were precisely put together time after time. Awesome ffs and pot salad and slaw, too. I only went to Dirty’s once in all the years I lived there - wished I’d gone more.
I liked all your Houston mentions though I only knew of Mary Ann’s from the Rodeo until only a couple of years before she turned it over to an employee and it went downhill. Worth driving out of the way for. Also loved the Hamburger Steak Sandwich on an Egg Roll at Alfred’s in the Village. 8 oz patty at least. Open-face on the plate accompanied with a half cup of homemade mayo, pile of iceberg, kosher pickle spear, kosher mustard in a container on the table, (maybe some horseradish too?), thick slice of white onion, tomato, awesome fries and slaw as I recall.
Yep, Pretty good burgers here and in Austin back then.
“had to pre-prepare patties” – uh, pre-cook 
Night Hawk and Holiday House are fond memories. I have a thing I probably picked up in college in SoCal for burgers with that sort of 1000 Island sauce. I loved Alfred’s and his son’s place, Kahn’s. There is pretty much no real deli food here. You can get great pastrami but not on sour rye with brown mustard and a half sour on the side.
Best burger restaurants in Houston
I seem to be a bit out of date. I’ve been to Stanton’s, Beck’s Prime and Lankford, got something from the Flip n’ Patties truck, but it wasn’t a burger, but haven’t been to any of the others or even heard of many of them. And, two of the authors are unknown to me …
I’ve been wanting to get to Burger Chan for a long time.
“burger-chan is a counter-service gourmet burger concept that draws inspiration from Asian flavors. The “chan” in our name is the Japanese diminutive suffix expressing cuteness, and it rhymes with “John.” Many of our sauces are made in-house, and we use fresh ground chuck for our patties. We serve some burger classics and some innovative items, but hopefully will never be labeled as “gimmicky.” More than anything, we want people to be blown away by the flavors we build. The food we prepare is thoughtful and time consuming. A focus on good ingredients, hard work, and not taking shortcuts have guided our success.”
Somewhere I’ve seen a description of the meats and flavors they use but can’t find it now. This couple (owners) take burgers very, very seriously!
Just noticed also the house made sauce is a homemade Thousand Island dressing.
