Good burgers for a good cause: This Fort Worth-area restaurant also feeds the hungry

Nearly Famous Burgers and Hot Dogs is closer than ever to fame.

Six months after reporters started telling the story of a little Arlington burger stand and its generous gifts to those in need, customers have donated more than 5,000 pre-paid meals for those who can’t afford them.

Nearly Famous is an above-average burger-and-hot-dog stand in a city full of good burgers.

But as a community cause, it’s a five-star hit.

Here’s how it works: Customers order a burger or dog, then have the choice to pay for two. The other is saved for somebody who can’t pay.

The paid-in-full receipts are posted by the door to be claimed by the next person in need, “pay it forward” style.

Owner Jeremy Lowe said the donations have fed “people from local churches, single mothers, even struggling teachers” in the tiny restaurant, 2502 Little Road, in a former grocery-and-grill.

“You wouldn’t believe the people who are struggling to get by,” Lowe said.

“And more and more people come by here and say, ‘I want to buy a meal for somebody.’ ”

On a recent weekday afternoon, 25 meals were waiting to be claimed. An Arlington restaurateur paid for $300 worth on a single ticket.

Lowe would like to see more customers and families in need from Fort Worth.

“I get people from all over, but I want to make sure people in Fort Worth know about this too,” he said.

The restaurant is only 2 miles south of Spur 303 — in Fort Worth, that’s East Rosedale Street — between Spur 303 and Interstate 20.

The location is a former Jackson’s Grocery & Grill, a 50-year Arlington tradition. It has recently been a barbecue and burger restaurant.

The menu offers a straight-up choice of old-school burgers, plant-based burgers, chicken sandwiches and New York-based Nathan’s Famous hot dogs.

The best-seller is the bacon-mushroom-Swiss burger ($9.39), Lowe said. The Nathan’s dogs include a chili-cheese dog with homemade chili, a Chicago dog, a kraut dog and a spicy dog with jalapenos, bacon and chipotle sauce.

Yes, Nearly Famous has tater tots and onion rings.

For Lowe, it’s the continuation of a life of devotion. For years, he has fed homeless veterans around the Fort Worth shelters on East Lancaster Avenue near downtown.

He and his father, Kevin, operated Famous Franks & Burgers drive-through stands in northeast Tarrant County for 15 years.

They opened their first Nearly Famous five years ago in a kiosk on Arkansas Lane, then moved two years ago to Little Road.

The restaurant is adding a drive-through window, Jeremy Lowe said.

He hopes to add a second location in east Fort Worth offering gift meals.

Nearly Famous’ owners are from a famous restaurant family. A grandfather, Webb Lowe, was a McDonald’s executive and president of the original Bonanza Steakhouse chain.

Nearly Famous is open for lunch and dinner daily; 682-252-4016, nearlyfamousburgers.com.