Hamburger Mary's155 S Oak Park Ave, Oak Park
This is the restaurant the prompted the crawl.
When I saw them mention on their Facebook page that they were going to revamp their menu and bring new life into the service at the restaurant I was skeptical. I even replied that it was the kitchen staff.
A friend of mine recently started working there and sent me a message asking what was wrong and I replied that they could never get my hamburger right. "If they have 'Hamburger' in the name they better get it right!".
He encouraged me to come back again and give them another try. I was still skeptical, but...
I decided to put together a Burger Crawl with My Bride and a friend. Places on the list...
Goldie's (The Stalwart)
Portillo's ("They get everything just right" and my personal favorite)
Big Guy's (The Sentimental Favorite)
Michael's (New kid on the burger block)
Places that were considered but didn't make the list...
Burger Antics (Too far)
Cigars and Stripes (Winner of the Berwyn's Best. Too far)
Obsessed Kitchen (I don't know, we should of gone)
1st Stop
Goldyburgers $10 @ 1/2 lb w/ fries
7316 Circle Ave, Forest Park
It's been there for a long time (since 1926) and have been slinging awesome burgers all along. They serve several different burgers (including the 3/4 lb 'Big Daddy') but to make things simpler our target was 'minimum of a 1/2 lb cheeseburger with standard toppings'. We should of gone with the 3/4 lb as several places had only 2/3 to 3/4 lb offerings.
It was a good start to our crawl! We were the only people in there so we were concerned how they would do but everything was fine. Nice thick patty with a good char. Great beefy flavor to the meat but without any seasonings from the kitchen. Pretty much a standard burger at the upper end. Toppings fresh. Hit medium well on the button.
Portillo's Hot Dogs $10 @ 2/3 lb
7740 W Roosevelt Rd, Forest Park
Portillo's seems to do nothing wrong. It seems that everything they make is 'spot on'. This was my latest favorite and was eager to see how it stacked up. Placed our order and sat to wait for the order. As usual they were busier than a crutch and there was a wait. Not quite sure what the wait was though as several people that ordered behind me got their orders first.
Stood up and waited for my order and spotted the staff taking the burgers as they were coming off of the burger conveyor and throwing them back in, stabbing them with the tongs making the grease flare up the flames. Sure it might of added some additional flame flavor but I am sure the conveyor is designed to produce the perfectly cooked patty.
Strike One (damn kids, playing with my food).
Finally my order was called and it actually wasn't too bad! Not nearly as dry as I feared but not nearly as juicy as it could of been. Overloaded with lettuce (not bad) and the addition of mayo is always a plus. Double 1/3 lb patties with no option for medium rare but not over cooked.
Big Guy's Sausage Stand $12 @ 3/4 lb
7021 Roosevelt Rd Roosevelt Road, Berwyn
As I mentioned this was a sentimental favorite. We with Brendan all the best of success and admire his vision. I have had some great burgers here but there have been a few misses mostly involving overcooking the patty. Today there was some new staff on duty with none of the regulars in attendance. Asking about Brendan the gal mentioned he was at home exhausted from all of the Thanksgiving catering they had done. Good for him.
They were pretty busy when we arrived with only a pair of stools available. Took a little while for the 2 person staff to get to our order out but when it was ready things had settled down and the gal actually brought our food out to us. Awesome burger with the greatest amount of flame char. Fresh toppings but the tomato was not fully ripe. My friend mentioned that he learned to trim away the unacceptable and only serve the good.
Brendan did stop by with 2 gifts of a 'Chicken Tikka meal pack' that was not used on a catering order. Yep! Even without knowing what was up he was bribing the judges.
Just being kind ot his friends.
My bride took off points for it being stools and window counters. I mentioned to her that that wasn't one of the categories for voting and she replied "Well I took off points anyway
".
Michael's Beef House $6.50 (!) 2/3 lb
6747 W North Ave, Oak Park
I have been enjoying their Merkts Cheddar Burger and was sad that it was not in the cards today. Pretty strongly a hotdog stand burger. The shredded lettuce, grilled onions (even though I asked for raw) all merged together into a solid, wet mass (think Big Baby). Two thin patties without a hope for medium rare but, once again not over cooked. I have actually had some thin patties that had a sliver of pink down the center.
After all of the great burgers already down the gullet this one was a bit of a let down. Mostly missing was the nice crunch of a fresh lettuce leaf and the nice tomato (reminiscent of a backyard BBQ). Flavor was ok but it was still a mucky mess.
Continued...
Last edited by
Panther in the Den on December 13th, 2018, 1:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Very good... but not my favorite." ~ Johnny Depp as Roux the Gypsy in Chocolat