Chicago Magazine: Best Burgers in Chicago

I just wanted to point out that Chicago magazine put out a nice article in their September 2009 magazine on the best burgers here in Chicago. I thought was list had some of my favorites plus many places I have yet to try.

• The Best Burgers in Chicago

Busy Burger

My turn. Went to Busy Burger on Taylor St in Little Italy/UIC with Spong. If you are in the area during the summer you MUST visit Mario's Italian Ice. It's a staple of Chicago and I can eat the watermelon ice all day... but on to the review. The place is on the corner of Taylor and May and has a tiny menu focusing on their burgers. They have their signature charbroiled Busy Burger, turkey burgers, and Portabello burgers. They also have some side menu items. Burger and fries cost under 6 bucks. It comes with a sesame seed bun, chopped lettuce, chopped pickles, a lot of mayo, chopped tomatoes, and a lot of onions. The meat seemed medium quality and was thin. Burger was cooked well done and wasn't juicy, but didn't taste that bad(not that great either). It definitely better than a MCD burger, but I'm not sure I'd take it over a Whopper honestly. The fries were decent but nothing to shout about. If I was in the area, I'd rather go to Carm's or better yet get the combo of Al's Beef and Mario's. A combo from Al's with italian ice from across the street is the stuff of dreams. Busy Burger was more like a power nap. It'll get the job done, but you'll want more.

Benny's Rating: 5.5 It'll do.

Busy Burger
1120 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4214

Extras:
If you are in UIC:

Al's No. 1 Italian Beef

1079 W Taylor St

Chicago, IL 60607
Get the combo... ASK FOR IT DIPPED!

Mario's Italian Ice
Across the street from Al's.
Watermelon is delicious
Open only during the summer

Carm's

1057 W Polk St

Chicago, IL 60607
Decent burger but the Italian Ice is pretty damn good there too.

1079 W Taylor St

Chicago, IL 60607-4224

Busy Burger
1120 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4214

Busy Burger

Ben and I finally went out for some burgers after a very long hiatus. So we went to check out Busy Burger. We enjoyed our burgers outside in the damp weather.

My Review:
The burger was just ok. But what can you expect when the meal (burger & fries) cost like $5.65. It meat was well done, lots of onions, and decent amount of ketchup and mustard. It's a nice summer burger to enjoy if you are in the neighborhood (Little Italy), but not worth the time to go there if aren't in the area.

Oh, the Italian ice (orange flavored) on the right is from Mario's, just 1 block east of Busy Burger.

Score: 6/10



Busy Burger
1120 W Taylor St
Chicago, IL 60607-4214
(312) 226-7760

Marios Italian Lemonade
1066 W. Taylor Street
Chicago,IL 60607

Kuma's Corner

Finally, after several failed attempts, we went to Kuma's Corner. The previous attempts, the wait was just ridiculous or it was closed. But last night, or rather today technically, at 1am we went there to get our Kuma burger. Our backup plan each of those times was to get Korean Fried Chicken either at Crisp or Great Seas Restaurant.

My Review:
The famous Kuma burger has a fried egg and bacon in it (no cheese in mine). It's probably one of most delicious burger I've had, and at least the best "original" burger I've ever had. I've seen them make these burgers, and I must say it's really all in the meat. They must have some kind of special hamburger prep spices/peppers because it's just unlike anything I've tasted anywhere. Not to mention that their patties are just so juicy and fresh.

I've also tried the following burgers there:

• Slayer - Pile of fries topped with a ½ lb. Burger, Chili, Cherry Peppers, Andouille, Onions, Jack Cheese, and Anger
• Iron Maiden - Avocado, Cherry Peppers, Pepper Jack, Chipotle Mayo
• High on Fire - Siracha Hot Chili Sauce, Prosciutto, Roasted Red Pepper, Grilled Pineapple, Sweet Chili Paste

I must say that as much as I enjoyed their "original" Kuma burger, I like their other burger plates even more. My favorite so far has been the Slayer burger, with all it's delicious spices. A close second, almost a tie, would be the High on Fire with the pineapple slice dipped in Mae Ploy sauce.

This place may very well be the best burger in Chicago.

Score: 9/10

The Kuma Burger


High on Fire


Kuma's Corner
2900 W. Belmont Ave.
Chicago, IL 60618
Ph. 773.604.8769

Shake Shack in NYC

Thus far, all my posts have been about burger joints in the Chicagoland area. Last weekend I was in New York City (NYC) visiting a friend. I wanted to see the city a little and most importantly, eat some of the good food. One of the places I visited was Shake Shack in Madison Square Park. It was a little cold out. About 5F, so we did end up taking the food back to my friends place to eat, about a 7 minute cab ride.

Can you believe they have a live camera feed from their joint on their website? It's to show how big of a line there is.

My Review:
I did not have the Shack burger. I wanted to get the double Shack burger, but was told there would be cheese all over and actually inside of it. So I was only able to order a double hamburger.

My burger was still really good. Everything tasted really fresh and in all honesty, if I wasn't saving room in my stomach for steak from Wolfgang's later on that night, I probably could have eaten two of them. I do think the place is a little over-hyped, as I was expecting something completely phenomenal that would rock my socks off. But I'm willing to concede that there were factors that worked against my review being completely fair.

1. I didn't order their Shack burger (damn cheese...)
2. It was cold out
3. I didn't eat the burger right then and there (10 min cab ride back to friend's apartment)

These factors possibly contributed to me not giving the burger a more fair and accurate scoring. But nonetheless, it's still a pretty good score.

Score: 7.5/10







SE Corner of Madison Square Park
Near Madison Ave and 23rd St.
212-889-6600

Select Cut

I always find it odd to go to a steak house and order a hamburger. I should really order a cut of steak, but instead, I order a burger. Haha, it just shows my dedication to this hamburger blog. Yesterday, Ben and I headed out to Select Cut, this time it was Ben's pick.

My Review:
Their burger is a 1/2 lb Steak burger ($8.50) and can be found in their sandwich section on the menu (Yes, I had a hard time finding their burger). It was very tempting to order their New York steak sandwich instead, which was only $1 more. It comes with a slice of tomato, 2 pieces of lettuce, a slice of onion, a pickle, and some delicious steak fries. I ordered mine medium-rare (just because I know they would get it right, it is a steak house).

My burger was very clean and tasty. I can tell that the meal was prepared with health, balance, and a strong emphasis on the meat in mind. I thoroughly enjoyed my burger, and I found out that it was just better to take a few bites of the burger consecutively before taking a bite of something else (pickle, fries, or water for example). With each consecutive bite, the burger just tasted better and better . Maybe I've been missing out on this experience my whole life as I generally like to take bites out of everything on my plate pretty evenly throughout my meal.

There was only one thing I thought was missing: a little extra flavoring. Maybe they could have added a little spice to it, or maybe something as simple as mayo would have been enough. I just thought everything was so good; the meat, the buns, the condiments, but it felt as though it could have used one more ingredient to make it even better. In many ways, I found this burger reminiscent of the burger I had at Pete Miller's, only that these guys had better beef.

I apologize for the dark picture, as my camera phone does not have a flash.

Score: 7/10



2808 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, IL 60657
(773) 244 - 1500

The Clubhouse Kobe Beef Burger

Wednesday night my family visited one of my favorite restaurants in the Oak Brook/Downers Grove area. The Clubhouse is located at Oak Brook Mall. Pretty classy place and is a huge restaurant with 2 floors. I ordered their $16 Kobe beef burger on their dinner menu. The Menu item reads as:

Kobe Burger: 16
8oz. Kobe beef burger, Monterey Jack, watercress, tomato, caramelized onion, garlic aioli, brioche bun

I was trying to keep an open mind, but the cost of 16 bucks for a burger had my expectations very, very high. On top that, I absolutely love the Prime Rib they serve so for me to order this over my beloved Prime Rib set the bar even higher. So was this burger to match my expectations? Well, I took one bite of the burger... and my taste buds screamed for more. The meat was cooked a perfect medium rare, and had that signature Kobe beef texture and taste. The brioche bun was very large and high quality. The bottom half was very thick and easily lasted the whole meal. The combination of watercress and garlic aioli was such a pleasant tasting surprise and they contrasted perfectly with the deliciously, sweet carmelized onions underneath the patty. The Monterey Jack cheese topped of this tasty burger and was the last perfect touch. What a tasty burger! Absolutely delicious. This one definetly gives Kuma's a run for its money.

Benny's Rating: 9.0-9.5 Absolutely Delicious.



The Clubhouse
100 Oakbrook Center
Oak Brook, Illinois 60523
630.472.0600


PS. Try their Sweet Chili Ginger Calamari appetizer or their Prime Rib. Both are to die for. Their Lobster bisque is just average, I'd say skip it unless you are in the mood for it.