IS RUTLEDGE BURGERS OLDEST RESTAURANT IN TOWN?

By Juan Montoya
The historic plaque in front of the closet-wide hamburger restaurant states that John and Hilda Rutledge started selling hamburgers on the sidewalk in 1922 and it wasn't until two year later that they bought the small space between two buildings for $65 and established a wall-to-wall eatery there.
For generations now, locals and visitors have made the pilgrimage to the little space between the two whitewashed walls to chow down on the burgers dished out by the hundreds daily.
They're not Whopper-sized, Big Macs, or the like, but local have been endeared to the cozy locale and the bite-sized morsels dished out by the dozens by the waitresses and the owners.
In 1995, the Rutledges sold the property to Gloria Perez, a former employee.
At 91 years, it has outlived Panchita's, Fisher's Cafe, Higgie's, the Texas Cafe, and countless others. Things have a way of hanging around this city, and Rutledge, unless we have missed some cafe we don't know about, is still considered the oldest greasy spoon in town.
Yet, even Rutledge's culinary seniority doesn't make it exempt from the mean wit of Brownsville wags referring to the tiny size of their hamburgers.
"They still have two pounds of hamburger meat left over form the 10 pounds they bought in 1922," said one.