RECOMMENDED: Best burgers in Chicago
Last spring, KFC put bacon and Monterey Jack between two pieces of fried chicken and called it a Double Down. Big deal. Has the Colonel heard of Joe’s Hot Dog Burger? It’s DMK Burger Bar’s (2954 N Sheffield Ave, 773-360-8686) signature grass-fed beef patty…topped with all the fixings of a Chicago-style hot dog (grilled hot dog, yellow mustard, onion, celery salt, tomato, sport peppers and pickle relish). Perhaps this sounds unbelievable. Wait until you learn that Timothy O’Toole’s(622 N Fairbanks Ct, 312-642-0700) introduced the Ultimate Chicago Burger—a half-pound of Angus beef topped with two Chicago-style dogs—during Burger Month in May, and it was so popular, the bar is keeping it on the menu. Speaking of Burger Month, the 6th Annual Burger Fest begins Monday 6 at Rockit Bar & Grill(22 W Hubbard St, 312-645-6000). Tuesday’s special offering is the Big Cheese: a Black Angus beef patty topped with shaved pastrami, caramelized onions and Gruyère cheese between two grilled-cheese sandwiches. If you can put pastrami and grilled-cheese sandwiches on a burger, why not a bowl of French onion soup? And so it is at the recently revamped Beckett’s—now Beckett’s Gourmet Burgers & Craft Beers(3210 N Lincoln Ave, 773-880-9620). The Oui Oui Burger takes a beef patty “infused” with French onion soup and tops it with truffled mushrooms, cognac-sautéed onions and melted Brie on a crunchy French baguette. Which very well may be what Samuel Beckett was talking about when he said, “We are all born mad. Some remain so.”