Richardson restaurant Del's Charcoal Burgers evokes feelings of nostalgia for 60-plus years

“I fell in love with the nostalgic part of it that makes you feel like you’ve gone back in time,” Taher said.

Del Smith opened the restaurant in 1957. Much of the original menu—including burgers, hot dogs, french fries, onion rings and homemade root beer—remains intact, with a few exceptions.

Since taking over ownership in 2003, Taher has added a vegetable burger and salmon burger. He said the most popular addition is the Texas cheeseburger, made with cheese, bacon, jalapeno, lettuce, tomato, hickory sauce and mayonnaise. It is even known internationally, Taher said.

“I have a customer from Israel that says the first thing he does when he arrives in [the Dallas-Fort Worth area] is come to Del’s for the Texas burger,” Taher said. “It’s Texan—it has to have flavor; it can’t be bland.”

Taher dreams of expanding Del’s outside of Richardson. He wants to provide other cities with the same feeling of nostalgia he gets from Del’s.

“I would like every downtown to have a Del’s,” Taher said.