In my fixed search to uncover South Florida burger and restaurant historical past, I discovered that these places are barely talked about. These forgotten Miami burger joints have disappeared with out a hint. I’ll hear about Royal Fortress throughout its golden age or Burger King in its early days, however nearly by no means about Broadway Joe’s, ChampBurger, GABE’s Burgers, Rudy’s Sirloin SteakBurgers, Wuv’s Hamburgers, and the remainder of these spots.
This web page later turned the inspiration for my cowl story on forgotten Miami burger joints for the Miami New Instances, so it’s solely becoming that it now serves because the archive for these misplaced eating places. I must thank my pal and fellow meals historian Phillip Pessar for his assist in monitoring down addresses and years for a few of these. After I would attain a dead-end in my investigation, Phillip jumped in with a serving to hand.
Initially printed on August 25, 2015. Up to date January 5, 2026.
Forgotten Miami Burger Joints
The joints under are listed in alphabetical order.
Broadway Joe’s
Broadway Joe’s opened in January of 1969 at 2415 Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables. By Could 1970, there have been 11 places in Florida, New York, and Texas, with three of them being franchises.
Broadway Joe’s is the namesake restaurant for soccer hero Joe Namath. The restaurant featured hamburger and roast beef sandwiches, as you may see within the image under.
Joe Namath left the corporate in December 1970, and never lengthy after that, Broadway Joe’s was gone.
Burger Fortress
Burger Fortress was launched by Charles Krebs, the primary South Florida Burger King franchisee, after he was denied the possibility to open a second BK. As an alternative of folding, he created his personal rival chain. The primary Burger Fortress opened in Hialeah on July 10, 1964.
The title was a nod to Miami’s two heavyweights of the period, Burger King and Royal Fortress. The eating places seemed so much like early Burger Kings, proper right down to the large signal that includes a king mascot holding a burger and shake. Their signature sandwich, the Taste-Broiled Big Burger, was a transparent swing on the Whopper.
The chain modified possession in 1968, expanded the menu to incorporate fried rooster and roast beef sandwiches, and unfold throughout Florida and a number of other different states. At its peak, about 20 places operated in South Florida, with headquarters in North Miami.
Authorized stress from Burger King finally pressured Burger Fortress to drop its king mascot and change to a knight emblem. By the mid Seventies, the chain pale away.
ChampBurger
Muhammad Ali had a burger joint? You higher consider it.
ChampBurger was a sequence of black-owned-and-operated Champburger Palaces in black neighborhoods. The 2 ChampBurger places have been at 3268 Grand Avenue in Coconut Grove and 6155 NW seventeenth Avenue.
Journey Culinary had accomplished an ideal job of explaining what occurred:
To help his household, he, amongst different actions, signed a restaurant franchise deal that netted him $900,000 from the Champburger Firm for the usage of his title and picture and a 1% royalties on the corporate’s annual income.In 1968, Champburger inventory bought for $5 a share. The licensing contract he signed with Champburger stipulated that each one franchise menus promote Muslim pleasant meals with out pork or shellfish.
Thus, along with the all-beef Champburger, franchises would promote all beef scorching canine, fried rooster, fried fish, boiled fish, different meals merchandise and delicate drinks together with his personal endorsed Mr. Champ soda.
The franchise by no means made out of Miami as the corporate by no means gained sufficient traders and acquired slowed down in a prolonged and costly courtroom case with stockholders.
GABE’s Burgers
GABE’s Burgers was my favourite Miami burger joint rising up. The title stood for Nice American Burger Emporium, however most of us solely knew it as GABE’s. The setup was a double drive-thru with outside tables and umbrellas, the type of place you hit together with your dad and mom on weeknights.
The burgers have been char-grilled and the fresh-cut fries got here dusted with seasoned salt. Places popped up round South Florida, together with Flagami, Westchester, Miramar, and Hialeah Gardens. By the early Nineties they have been gone, and GABE’s slipped into Miami burger folklore.
Scorching Shoppes
Most people these days know Marriott for its resort chain, however in 1927, J. Willard Marriott opened a nine-stool root beer stand that turned the Scorching Shoppes restaurant chain. I tracked down the addresses for these three Miami places through an advert: 950 N Miami Seaside Boulevard, 7900 SW 104th Avenue, and 3500 S. Dixie Freeway.
Scorching Shoppes had arrived in Miami a yr and a half earlier than the April 1973 Miami Information article above. Whereas I’m not sure how lengthy they lasted, on December 2nd, Marriott closed down the final of the Scorching Shoppes eating places.
In case you’re nonetheless eager for the times of Scorching Shoppes and their fashionable dishes just like the Mighty Mo Burger and Sauce, you would possibly wish to choose up the Marriott Scorching Shoppes Cookbook. The e book is promoting at an inexpensive worth on Amazon or eBay, contemplating it was launched in 1987.
Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour & Restaurant
Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour was an old school ice cream parlor chain that started in New York. Their signature dessert was the massive Kitchen Sink Sundae. Jahn’s had two South Florida places: 249 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables and 17262 Collins Avenue in North Miami Seaside.
At the very least one Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour nonetheless operates in New York at Jackson Heights, Queens, should you nonetheless want that repair. Just a few years again, once I was in New York, I stumbled throughout the final Jahn’s restaurant and loved a cheeseburger there.
I’m unsure precisely when the primary Jahn’s Ice Cream Parlour location opened in South Florida, however it was within the Bronx in 1897. By the Fifties, it had unfold to different elements of New York, New Jersey, and the 2 South Florida places.
Rudy’s Sirloin SteakBurgers
Rudy’s Sirloin SteakBurgers ran by means of South Florida from the mid-Eighties into the early Nineties. Douglas Rudolph, the person who introduced Wendy’s to Miami-Dade, bought his Wendy’s shops and launched Rudy’s as a hybrid between quick meals and a extra upscale burger spot like Fuddruckers.
The hook was within the title: char-broiled sirloin steakburgers, with a appear and feel that felt a step up from the same old chains. Rudy’s went public in 1986 and slowly pale out a couple of years later.
TropiBurger
I don’t know a lot about TropiBurger, which had one drive-in location in Little Havana at 1340 SW eighth Avenue. My greatest guess is that they have been round solely about six months, from August 1965 to January 1966.
I do realize it didn’t work out for them in Miami. So that they opened in Venezuela, the place they’d an ideal run with a number of places.
In February 1997, the entire 32 TropiBurger places in Venezuela turned Wendy’s eating places. Then, like Keyser Söze, they have been gone.
Or are they? TropiBurger.
Wuv’s Hamburgers
Wuv’s Hamburgers was a Florida-born chain that attempted to take a “contemporary concept in quick meals” nationwide within the late Seventies and early Eighties. In South Florida, children keep in mind the purple and white or wood-paneled buildings, the contemporary by no means frozen burgers, the toppings bar, the fries, biscuits, and the home Wuv Juice.
Wuv’s grew quick, then flamed out and filed for Chapter 11 in 1981. The model disappeared, however the recollections haven’t.
Last Ideas
Not each nice burger joint will get remembered. These didn’t survive, however they left a mark on the individuals who ate there. If one in every of these spots meant one thing to you, share it, as a result of as soon as the tales are gone, the historical past goes with them.