A recent lunch at Beck's Prime made me wonder:  Who started the whole gourmet burger trend in Houston?  Beck's has been my benchmark gourmet burger for years; they opened their first store in 1985.

You, pretty burger, are responsible for all this.

Before that, I remember burgers from Prince's Drive-In and Bellaire Broiler Burger, but while good, they aren't the same sort of burgers that Beck's.  Same goes for Rosnovsky's and Someburger.  Been around forever, but they serve fast food-style burgers, albeit very good ones.

An astute Twitterer, Jennifer King, remembered that Cafe Express started around the same time period, but while they do serve burgers, I don't think they're in the same class as Beck's.

Another of the Twitterati, Joey, reminded us about Annie's on South Post Oak.  I'm a fan, but I wouldn't consider them to offer a high-end experience.

So I'll put it to the experts here:  Who started the gourmet burger craze in Houston?