AU CHEVAL: A FAMOUS CHICAGO BURGER THAT YOU DON’T WANT TO MISS
The Cost -$43
The Atmosphere – Located in Chicago’s West Loop neighborhood, Au Cheval gives off the appearance of an upscale tavern or bar restaurant. Its walls are mostly exposed brick and the long bar with counter seating is the main fixture, taking up a good portion of the eatery’s footprint. With some booths lined up across from the bar and a few tables in the back, the restaurant does not offer a ton of eating and the fact that it doesn’t take reservations means that waits to get in for dinner can be upwards of two hours. The potential wait combined with Au Cheval’s high volume, up-tempo music, doesn’t make it the best venue for a date or a business meal, but it does make for a fun venue for an outing with friends or family.
Au Cheval opened its doors in 2012 to the delight of Chicagoans and tourists visiting the city from all over the world. Since then, the restaurant’s burger has been recognized by a large number of publications being named one of the best in the country by Business Insider, one of the 21 essential hamburgers in the country by Eater, and the number one burger in America by the Food Network. That’s a lot of praise for a hamburger.
The Order – Double Cheeseburger with Bacon and Egg and a Mille-Feuille.
The Fantastic – The Double Cheeseburger features two stacked burger patties on a brioche bun served with a pickle spear. You have the option to add bacon for $7 and/or an egg for $3. I decided to add both, and I was very glad I did. Alone, the burger was solid, but with the bacon and egg, it was special. The bacon was extremely thick cut, had a slight sweetness to it, and was absolutely delicious. In fact, it was the best part of the dish. The egg was fried and placed on top of the burger. The egg did run a little when you squeezed the sandwich, and it added some nice texture and flavor to the already good burger. The burger was also the perfect size – almost too big to fit in your hands to pick up and your mouth to bite but just small enough to enable you to do both. Overall, this was an excellent burger and well worth its $27 total price tag to get to experience.
The Great – To continue the evening of gluttony, I decided to order dessert; the one that stood out most was the Mille-Feuille. Like the traditional French version, Au Cheval’s mille-feuille is made with three layers of puff pastry, each consisting of many thin layers of the phyllo dough. In between the three layers are two large layers of pastry cream placed in puffs. To top things off, the dessert comes with chocolate sauce that is drizzled on by the waiter and some powdered sugar that completely covers the first layer of puff pastry. The mille-feuille looks amazing and while the cream was outstanding, the puff pastry and the chocolate drizzle could have been better. But despite having some average parts, the cream and the size of this dessert (which is easily big enough for two) make it a great value and an excellent way to end the meal.
The Verdict – Coming into the meal at Au Cheval, I wasn’t sure what to expect. With a ton of hype around this burger and a pretty hefty price point, I felt like I was in for a disappointment. However, the burger really was delicious and while it wasn’t cheap, it was worth the splurge. And when you add in the wonderful mille-feuille, the overall dining experience was a noteworthy one.