One Great Dish: Pleasant House Bakery's Tuesday Burger

By Chuck Sudo in Food on Sep 6, 2011 8:40PM

Chuck Sudo/Chicagoist

Earlier today we declared Pleasant House Bakery one of our favorite restaurant openings of the year. The reasons are many. Art Jackson has stuck to a small and simple menu of Yorkshire-style pies, salads and other treats such as their Scotch egg (one of the best in the city), homemade sodas and nightly specials like their Friday night fish and chips and their Tuesday burger special.

The burger is not for Wimpys. It's made from house ground chuck and grilled to order, served on a ciabatta bun from La Farine. For the burger's toppings you can choose from a fried egg, raw or grilled onions (get the grilled), lettuce, tomatoes, house made pickles and a choice of cheeses. The produce is all grown by Jackson, wife Chelsea and their family on the urban farms they tend in Bridgeport, Pilsen and the suburbs, so you can experience the circle of agricultural life first hand.

That ciabatta bun from La Farine is the most valuable component of this burger. It's big enough to hold all the toppings between it while sturdy enough to soak up the juices from the meat without making the overall burger soggy. Because you can only get this burger one day a week, it's even more special. We've been dreaming of this burger since we first tasted it.