Stanley’s Famous Hamburgers Serves Up Nostalgia in a Bun

Hamburgers at Stanley’s are served with griddled onions and dill pickles on a bun, with cheese, lettuce and tomato as an option. Photograph by Angel Tucker

The red-and-yellow, “Ketchup-and-mustard” theme inside Stanley’s Famous Hamburgers in Central Falls is contrary to how guests are served their burgers. Even though the walls are bright yellow and the booths are Heinz-worthy red, the best way to eat a Stanley Burger is unadulterated by condiments. 

“A Stanley Burger is just a burger, no cheese, with griddled onions and pickles,” says owner Louis Augusta, reflecting on the history of the burger that originated during the Great Depression. “Ketchup and mustard were forbidden.” It’s better to keep the red and yellow on the walls, he adds with a laugh. 

Stanley’s retro-theme decor is ketchup-and-mustard hued. Photograph by Jamie Coelho

Although, if you want it the traditional American way, smothered in cheese, topped with bacon and doused in primary color condiments, they won’t knock your style. But the traditional “Stanley” way has been served since Stanley’s was founded by the original owner, Stanley F. Kryla, in 1932. “Especially if it’s your first time, we want you to taste the original,” Augusta says. 

Kryla was a Polish immigrant who wanted to feed people a good meal during a challenging time in American history. “He just wanted to make an affordable burger during the Great Depression,” Augusta says. Today, the prices are in the same vein, with a Stanley Burger costing only $3.39. There are still affordable specials, too: Six Stanley Burgers and a large fry for $15.99 will feed the whole family for less than a Benjamin. 

To keep business alive during COVID, the restaurant ran the same special for a steal at $9.99, and had a three- or four-hour wait for takeout orders. The secret is, they make money on the toppings. “When people add cheese, that’s $6, and bacon, that’s another $8,” says Augusta with a wink and a nod. 

The restaurant has been a staple in the community for over ninety-three years, and the recipe for the burgers has never changed. The beef is always fresh, never frozen, weighed into two-ounce portions. First, onions are sauteed directly on the grill until caramelized and aromatic, then the raw beef patty is placed over the onions and smashed with a spatula. Once the grill side is cooked, the patty is flipped to the other side with the onions smothering the top. A burger bun is lined with a bed of round-cut dill pickles and the cooked patty is slid on top with the onions facing down. It’s the perfect burger bite with acidity from the pickles, a little sweetness from the caramelized onions and then a hit of umami from a perfectly seared smashburger on a fluffy bun. You can smell the aroma wafting out the door while walking down the street. 

The counter offers a front row seat to the grilling action. Photograph by Jamie Coelho

The whole idea was to make a meal accessible to all during a time when people were going hungry. A digital menu board may now flash prices above the counter with a front row seat to the grilling action, but the cost has remained steady over the years. “He just wanted to make sure everybody could afford it,” Augusta says, adding that value is just as important today as it was back then. But these are not fast-food burgers, as each patty is grilled to order on the flap top. And guests place orders with a server at the counter or a table, never on a computer screen.

Augusta started out as a waiter at Stanley’s more than nineteen years ago. He began his burger career at Burger King when he was sixteen and then moved on to Stanley’s. He worked with Greg Rahed, who owned the restaurant from 1987 until 2016 and saw potential in Augusta. “When he interviewed me as a waiter, he goes, ‘I can see you owning this place one day,’” Augusta says. “And in 2015, he was already thinking about selling, and he asked me, and we worked it out.”

Back then, Augusta learned everything as a waiter. “How to grill, fry cook, dishes,” which isn’t too different from what he does now as the owner, he says. “I’m basically just a dishwasher now,” he says with a laugh. 

He prides himself on continuing to make everything fresh, and using the same exact recipes and grilling techniques as they did in 1932. His right-hand man, manager Daniel Torres, has been working with him for eighteen years. Torres grew up in Central Falls and used to come to Stanley’s as a kid with his father and brother. He started working there as a dishwasher at age seventeen, and worked his way up from cook to manager. 

“I love it here. I love the customers,” Torres says. “After so many years, you just get comfortable. And I just love to cook. I do it all, cook, hire, fire.”

For the french fries, 250 pounds of potatoes are sliced daily in the kitchen. The skins are kept on for a better flavor in the fryer. “Here, we cut them with the skins, then we put them in a big bucket of water and blanch them so they cook faster,” Augusta
says. “Basically, it’s like a twice-cooked potato: blanched first, then fried the next day.” Fries can be served with cheddar cheese, chili and cheese or Quebec-style with gravy and cheese.

The menu extends beyond burgers and fries, too, with beer and wine available. Seafood specialties include housemade clam cakes and chowder, stuffies, fried clams, fish and chips and a lobster salad roll. 

Stanley’s has a lot of regulars, including Shannon Hobson, who has been coming to Stanley’s for more than twenty years, about twice monthly. She usually gets a Stanley Burger but will vary it up with chicken tenders with gravy and fish and chips. “I love the nostalgia, the consistency with the food, and the amazing ingredients,” Hobson says. “It’s just really good. It never varies. It’s always the same.”

Augusta prides himself on that. “It’s tradition. When the customer comes here, they expect to have that same burger that they had in the early ’60s,” he adds. “That’s why people come here.” 535 Dexter St., Central Falls, 726-9689, stanleyshamburgers.com

Burger Business

More modern spots to get your burger fix.

NORTH

There, There

When you need a big hug in the form of a meal, head to There, There. Named for that comforting feeling you get accompanied by a good squeeze and a tap on the back, There, There’s strengths lie in burgers, fried chicken and vegetarian sandwiches (try the kale roll), as well as the CNY salt potatoes and fresh-cut fries. The Dream Burger is stacked with two grass-fed beef smash patties, cheese, special sauce, “shredduce” and onion jam, or go for the Oklahoma with two smash patties, griddled onions, cheese, mayo, sweet mustard and pickles, both served on a sesame seed bun. 471 West Fountain St., Providence; Track 15, 1 Union Station, Providence, theretherepvd.com

The M.O.A.B. at Harry’s Bar & Burger includes bacon, mushrooms and onion rings. Photograph courtesy of Chow Fun Food group.

Harry’s Bar & Burger

With two locations in Providence, Harry’s burgers are never far out of reach in the Creative Capital. Good thing we have two hands. Sold as sliders, each order comes with two small burgers plus the option to add a third. Try the M.O.A.B., aka the Mother of All Burgers, which tops the Hereford beef patty with hickory-smoked bacon, hearty portobello mushrooms and fried onion rings for an additional crunch. The Sloppy Harry Chili Burger comes with spicy housemade chili and cheese sauce. Grab a few extra napkins with this one! Wash it all down with one of the adults-only boozy milkshakes, or a nonalcoholic version, if you’d rather. 121 North Main St., Providence, 228-7437; 301 Atwells Ave., Providence, 228-3336, harrysbarburger.com

NORTH & EAST

Chomp Kitchen & Drinks

Inventive burgers are key here where the beef patty never plays alone (unless, of course, your kid wants it that way). Burgers come equipped with a panoply of toppings including the Smoky Bandit’s pepper jack cheese, smoky aioli, barbecue sauce, crispy onion strings and pickled jalapenos on a smash patty, or the Scallion Smash with a cheddar smash patty, bacon, tomato, avocado and pea green and scallion slaw. Even the over-the-top chicken sandwiches come all decked out, including the BBQ hot honey fried chicken sandwich slathered with jalapeno cream cheese, Alabama white barbecue sauce and pickles. Basically, sub in a smash patty, grilled chicken, fried chicken or veggie patty for any burger or sandwich. 279 Water St., Warren, 289-2324; 117 Ives St., Providence, 537-7556; 111 Broadway, Newport, chompri.com

EAST

Mission

Middletown’s Mission has been serving up great burgers to Aquidneck Island for nearly a decade. The burgers are simple and we like them that way. The “classic” comes topped with sprouts, raw onions and Mission sauce, or go a little wild with a bacon burger — “COOKED MEDIUM!” —  or a bacon cheeseburger, “cooked medium.” Things get a little cheeky here, so have some fun with it, and no, you can’t have it your way at Mission. OK, fine, order it that way if you must. 58 Aquidneck Ave., Middletown, 324-5811, missionnpt.com

SOUTH

Crazy Burger Cafe & Juice Bar

Crazy Burger is known for its epic burger menu, including vegan, vegetarian and pescatarian choices. It recently had a visit from chef Gordon Ramsay, who was working on a new TV show featuring the business. For lunch and dinner, there are at least four veggie burger options called “vertiginous vegan burgers,” including a quinoa, black bean and sweet potato version with cilantro-cashew pesto in a crunchy corn chip crust. There are all the meatier counterparts, too, including the cult-favorite Whassupy Burger, which involves beef coated with sesame-fennel-wasabi rub, topped with brie and onion rings on an ancient grain bun with wasabi-chipotle mayonnaise on the side. There’s no judgement involved when it comes to what’s between two buns. 144 Boon St., Narragansett, 783-1810, crazyburger.com

Hamburglar Boi 

Curious what an eleven-year-old thinks about all the best burgers in town? Follow @hamburglarboi on Instagram to learn what a kid wants between two buns. His ten-bite burger reviews span from Rhode Island to all over New England.

Photograph by Jamie Coelho