Butcher and the Burger has vaulted into the darling of Chicago burger places. For good reason I guess – it has a catchy name and received national acclaim from Men’s Health magazine as the “manliest” burger. Huh? Insert “whatever” here. It was good, maybe even great, but “manliest” is one of the last words I’d use to describe this culinary treat. I guess that’s what you get from Men’s Health magazine.
The notoriety actually made me go there, not because I read Men’s Health, but because every blogger in the region made note of this accolade. I’m not that original, I guess.
This burger is all about verticality. It’s a stacked work of art. Look at that thing. Isn’t it beautiful? It’s a 6 oz. patty charred and served up on any variety of rolls ($0.50 extra for a pretzel roll) with plenty of farm fresh condiments. It has a hot location right in the heart of Lincoln Park/DePaul and seems to be bustling often. We hit it in the middle of the afternoon on a Sunday after golf at Blackhawk Trace and there were 5–10 people in line most of the time.
The patty is only 6 oz. but it has the right thickness, allowing it to not be overwhelmed by the stack. It’s charred by a bunch of youngsters making a commotion and a lot of smoke. I figured it would come out like shoe leather. But no, it was done perfectly – nice and medium on the inside with tasty charring on the edges. Really nice stuff.
Your first question may be, “How’d you get that in your mouth, manly man?”
That’s a dumb question. This isn’t that manly of a burger. It’s a salad on a bun with some meat tossed in for flavor. That’s how I like it. I liked it a lot. In my warped mind, this is health food. Sure, it has white, processed flower along with some red meat, but you can’t deny the veggies man. They’re veggies, from the earth.
The beauty of it is that the bun and salad portion (tomatoes, lettuce, pickles, onions, ketchup, and mustard) can be squashed down to nothing allowing easy consumption. I was amazed, absolutely flabbergasted. Not only was it edible, but the stack of veggies and stuff didn’t move or squeeze out the side. Physically, I would have thought that they didn’t have any place to go but out, then on to the plate, and then on to my nice golf shirt. I think it was black magic.
The little picture here is the proof. That’s the end of it and it still has everything lined up nicely, just in a shorter stack. Pretty darn amazing folks. Good luck finding something like that anywhere on the face of the earth.
That’s not the end of it. Things got really interesting – as in sweet, fried dough interesting.
Sure, they have shakes and malts, but I opted for a different dessert item. I went with the beignets. Yeah, the New Orleans treat. Check it out at the bottom of this post. They come in two flavors, powdered sugar and powdered cinnamon and sugar. That’s a lot of sugar. I don’t completely understand what makes a beignet different from a doughnut. It seemed to be light and fluffy like a raised doughnut yet the inside had a certain cake-like texture. I’m ready to make a trip any month to New Orleans actually because of this. I can see an addiction brewing, I’m glad this is in the Lincoln Park/DePaul ‘hood, so it’s inconvenient and crowded, which means I’ll avoid it.
This is a great, well-rounded, diverse, high quality burger place that I think is here for the long haul. I still don’t think it beats out a few of the half pound burgers I’ve tried this year, like Edzo’s and DeLux, but this place may get an “overall” award.
