Rockit Burger Bar unveils a photogenic new menu with a side of Cubs tickets. more ›

Korean-influenced burgers dominate the menu at the new location of bopNgrill in Rogers Park. On a day like today, some kimchi fries sound awfully good. more ›

The Counter's veggie burgers have gotten rave reviews, and now they are giving them away for free on World Vegetarian Day. more ›

Hold the Beef is a monthly series exploring Chicago's vegetarian burger scene. If you know any veggie burger joints that we should check out, post them in the comments! more ›

A new food truck, created by Chef/Owner Nina Rodriguez, will launch today at Food Truck Tuesdays. The truck, called "The Slide Ride" will serve a menu entirely made up of sliders, those miniature sandwiches made famous by White Castle and made fancy by a million gastropub menus. more ›

Hold the Beef is a monthly series exploring Chicago’s vegetarian burger scene. If you know any veggie burger joints that we should check out, post them in the comments! more ›

To highjack a line from Elle Woods, the laws of burger alternatives are simple and finite. A restaurant will either make its own or dress up someone else's. Neither option in and of itself is better than the other. We have had some awesome non-beef burger made from scratch on the premises and have been delighted by a restaurant's presentation of a third-party patty. As any good vegetarian will tell you, it is not the nature of the sandwich but rather the magic ... er, taste (you get the picture) ... inside that counts! It is with that bit of veggie wisdom in mind that we set our finicky tastebuds to take on Hackney's Black Bean Burger. more ›

This month our quest to find Chicago's best meat-free burgers took us to the nerve center of the North and Clybourn shopping corridor and the popular Burger Bar. Ok, it was actually a dying hard drive and the new Apple store that took us there. But you know what they say. When in Rome, eat where the Romans do . . . or something like that. Let's just say that when all was said in done, we had a new drive in the laptop and full bellies on which to rest it. more ›

We admit it - sometimes we miss fabulous internet phenomena. On the other hand, you probably do too, and sometimes a story is just too amazing to pass up, even if it is (gulp) three years old. Minnesota Monthly writer Dara Grumdahl created the Burger Inherent Awesomeness Quotient in 2008, but an equation of such import is still relevant today. Heck, we think it should've won some sort of prize for mathematical genius. The problem Grumdahl faced, during a roundup of the best burgers in the entire state, was keeping a solid set of criterion which didn't let the most expensive burgers with the fanciest ingredients trump the diners. The result was this miraculous equation. more ›

What’s in a name? When an establishment’s moniker sets expectations high, it automatically raises the bar on its food. So it was with Epic Burger. The name alone provided us with grand hopes for an awesome meat-free burger experience. Every restaurant and its brother offers a veggie alternative to the standard beef patty. For vegetarians, this is either a blessing or a curse, depending on the burger. In the case of Epic Burger’s Portabella Mushroom Sandwich, it was disappointingly somewhere in between. more ›

During the month of December, DMK Burger Bar will be showcasing two new menu offerings. First, a new burger called the "Holiday Ham Never Had it Better." Yeah, the name isn't great - but the burger sounds amazing, combining a turkey patty with Black Forest ham, and topping it with brie, granny smith apples and honey-dijon. Great for the non-beef eaters in your party! more ›

Are you a current or recently discharged member of the military? Do you like burgers? More importantly, do you like free burgers? In two weeks,DMK Burger Bar is starting a new promotion. Any Wednesday starting October 20, come in before 6:00 PM and the serviceperson and one guest can eat totally for free. Just bring your military ID. more ›

Burgers are timeless meals that are best made simple. Kuma's corner gets all the hype and corresponding long lines, but my favorite burgers tend to be the non-stacker types of Top Notch Beefburger and Edzo's. Moreover, the recent burger trend seems to be dictated by the "keep it simple, stupid" theory. more ›

While legendary thrash metal band Slayer was in town a couple weeks back to play a concert at UIC Pavilion, "Sound Opinions" hosts Jim Derogatis and Greg Kot interviewed guitarist Kerry King and drummer Dave Lombardo for the show's 250th episode on public radio, airing this weekend on WBEZ. more ›

Gus Paschalis at Wiener and Still Champion, the Victor Frankenstein of the deep fryer, is at it again. Visitors to his Evanston hot dog emporium today can order a "Luther Burger." Named in honor of the late R&B singer Luther Vandross (true), the "Luther" is a bacon cheeseburger with Krispy Kreme doughnuts as the bun. One version of the burger's origin has it that Vandross, who battled with diabetes, weight and body image issues his entire life, actually invented the burger when he ran out of hamburger buns. Not one to let good taste get in the way cooking, Paula Deen "improved" upon the original by adding a fried egg to her version. Godfrey Daniel! more ›

Via Time Out Chicago's "Eat Out" team, check out this video with a not so subliminal message, then call Socca to RSVP. This is a dine-in only promotion; no carryout. more ›

Former 312 Chicago chef Dean Zanella returns to action Thursday with the opening of his Aldino's, in the former Caffe La Scala space in the UIC Hospital District/Little Italy. Zanella has partnered on Aldino's with Scott Harris, who is seemingly opening restaurants everywhere these days. With a big assist from Chef de Cuisine Ray Stanis (Blackbird, Avec, Osteria di Tramonto), Zanella will be serving a menu of local and seasonally-driven Italian fare. Not content to open just a restaurant, Zanella will also be opening a companion market to Aldino's in a couple weeks. more ›

Here is a deal that is the very epitome of "budget-friendly." On Wednesdays Province (161 N. Jefferson St., 312-669-9900) serves up a burger made from fresh Dietzler Farms all natural Wisconsin beef with a Three Floyds beer for only $10. It's available for customers dining at the bar from 4:30-10 p.m. more ›

There's been one glaring omission on DMK Burger Bar's menu since its autumn opening: the #5 burger. The burger will finally take its place on the menu with a launch party tomorrow night at 9 p.m. more ›

• Carnivale's guacamole is one of the best deals in the city Tuesdays throughout the winter. A small order of guacamole will cos in pennies what the high temperature of the day is recorded. So, if Accuweather's forecast holds true, that's 22 cents. (702 W. Fulton, 312-850-5005).
• Throughout the month of January, Custom House is bringing back their $5 burger during lunch service. (500 S. Dearborn, 312-523-0200)

The Trib is reporting that the local burger bar chain has filed for Chapter 11, which allows the company to keep operating while it reorganizes its business. We've always had a soft spot for the River East outpost and its cramped old school atmosphere. Damn good chili and, of course, hamburgers, especially when paired with a mug of the house beer. The kind of place where newspaper reporters like Ben Hecht might have occupied a barstool in days gone past. But, much as the biz of dead tree rags is ailing, so are restaurants. Here's hoping Blackie's manages to hang on. more ›

It’s not often that we give a positive review to a restaurant that started flooding during our meal. Heck, it’s not often that we EXPERIENCE a flood during our meal - though the urge to pair up and make like Noah’s animals gave our date a certain sense of urgency. But Paramount Room is an exception. An upscale pub from the group behind the popular Roscoe Village spots Kitsch’n and Volo Restaurant Wine Bar, Paramount Room is a dark, atmospheric dive that, in another time, would’ve been filled with smoke and gangsters. more ›

We work during the day near downtown Evanston, so we've become familiar with the available lunch options. The suburb seems to be turning into a new center for good burgers using quality ingredients. Readers got a glimpse of Edzo's Burger Shop a couple weeks back; Ed Lakin and crew are now open for business. We've also extolled the virtues of Wiener and Still Champion in the past. Best known for a good hot dog and owner Gus Paschalis's willingness to deep fry anything once, WaSC also makes an amazing burger. There's another burger joint we've been enamored with recently that does its best to put out a good burger, if not rise to the level of Lakin and Paschalis. more ›

Ever noticed that fast food never looks quite as... appetizing as it does in advertisements? We've all heard food stylist horror stories about shaving cream, glycerin, paints, oils and all the other fake things used to make food look just so for photo shoots. But this piece from The Guardian's food blog puts it all in perspective: side-by-side pictures of fast food advertisements vs. reality. Yuck. We're especially disturbed by number 4, the canned whole chicken. Though, we suppose anyone buying a canned whole chicken is getting what they deserve. If you're on a diet, bookmark this page - anytime you're tempted by fast food, just take a peek.
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From the "calm the fuck down" department: Jeff Ruby's list of his 30 favorite burgers turned the echo chamber at LTHForum up to 11, much of it centered on why Patty's Diner (3538 Main St., Skokie, 847-675-4274) didn't make Ruby's cut. Some samples (emphasis ours): more ›

Who would've thunk that burgers would be one of the year's big food fads, although we should have seen it coming with "the Cheeseburger Show?" (No offense, Pang). more ›

As if Kuma's Corner couldn't get any more packed on the weekend, now the venerable burger/beer/metal/biker kitsch bar is throwing a block party to celebrate its fourth anniversary, which should just send fans of Kuma's monster burgers into DEFCON 1 mode. more ›

Since entering the market last autumn, the DC-based hamburger chain Five Guys has garnered the kind of media (over)exposure that fast food franchises crave. After hearing good things about Five Guys from Kevin and Marcus while they were in the District for the inauguration, and one fair-but-not-supportive review from Mike Nagrant, we knew that we had to find out for ourselves if Five Guys was worth the hype. in such markets as . The walls of its tiny space at 2140 N. Clybourn are loaded with testimonials lavished upon it from other cities such as Roanoke, Tampa and its home base in DC, apparently waiting for a glowing review from one of our own. more ›

• In the wake of an article calling hamburgers "the Hummers of food," Helen Rosner lists local restaurants that source the beef for their burgers from local farms. Why Paul Kahan isn't getting his lamb from Mint Creek Farm, only he knows. [MP Chicago]
• Speaking of localvore issues, check out the expanded version of the Local Beet.[The Local Beet]
• The fine folks at Drive-Thru have been very busy this week. Chris Brunn and Cinnamon Cooper offer a couple vegan-friendly recipes; Cooper infuses vodka with her namesake spice; and Robyn Nisi made the mistake of replacing real lemon juice for her lemon ricotta cookies with ReaLemon. [Drive-Thru]

We were stoked when the news broke that John Manion of Nas and Old Oak Tap was taking over as Executive Chef of Goose Island Clybourn that we made it a point to pay a visit last weekend to see what changes were happening to the menu. more ›