Jones...eluding Jordan! Yes!

Today the entire front and back page of the Tribune's Live section was devoted to burgers. And we wonder why newspapers are dying.





Now it goes without saying, I loved this article. But I also have no job and spend most of my days planning out my next trip to Kuma's or Smoque (I'm assuming not everyone in Chicago spends their days like this).

However, I do take issue with a few of the Trib's points in the story. They're basically trying to stir up a little controversy by suggesting there is a burger in Oakbrook that is better than Kuma's Kuma Burger. Now aside from the fact that the Oakbrook restaurant in question has only 1 burger and Kuma's offers 21, who is driving to Oakbrook for a burger?*

*Apparently my friend Maura is. My mistake.

The trib reporter, Kevin Pang, ends up giving the edge to the Oakbrook Restaurant (Labriola Bakery Cafe), citing a juicier burger and better bacon. Congrats Labriola Bakery Cafe. When you start to offer 20 other delicious kinds of burgers, we can start this conversation again.

Moving on to the backpage, Pang tackles 10 other burgers in tri-state area he deems awesome. I say tri-state area because one burger he is an advocate of, Schoop's, is in Indianapolis. That's commitment to a burger Kevin. You are more of a man than I am.

In terms of the other 9 burgers, I'd only been to two of the restaurants. The Paradise Pup in Des Plaines was the first. This restaurant was also featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. My verdict- don't waste your time going to Des Plaines for a fast food burger. A lot of places serve Merkt's cheddar now. It's not 2001 when you had to drive to Buffalo Joe's in Evanston for cheese fries your buddy swore by.

The second restaurant was Carmine's. Under no circumstances would I recommend someone who was going to Carmine's for dinner to order the burger. They're an Italian restaurant, and their Italian food is delicious. If you're going for lunch and want to save money however, go nuts and let me know how the burger is. I suspect the burger next door at Lux Bar will suffice however.

The reality is, you can get a burger a lot of places. The lines at Kuma's do not make it easier to eat there (which usually just means people get there earlier). My advice to you is to stay at home and make your own burgers. It's more rewarding that way. And it will make the lines shorter at all of the restaurants I like going to.

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