Au Cheval (3 Plates)

Another burger review? Yup... I think I need to cut down on my addiction to beef patties topped with cheese and toasted buns. Is there a group for burgaholic anonymous meetings? I think I need help.

My addiction has brought me to Chicago and to a place rated by Bon Appetit as a perfect griddle burger. The place is called Au Cheval. Au Cheval is a high-end diner that serves their customers until 1AM. They also serve wines and beers from different zipcodes. Aside from their famous burger, they also offer some gourmet and upscale options like bone marrow and foie gras. They have the out of the ordinary as well such as chicken liver and duck heart. There are bold options and the safe options. The burgers, i'll put them down under the safe options. When its safe, it must be good.

Outside Au Cheval

I went to Au Cheval on a late Saturday night. I got there around 9:30PM. That late at night, the wait time was two and a half hours. So plan ahead and get ready to wait for a very.. very.. very long time. It would help they had more seats at their bar. Unfortunately, only 6 seats at the bar were available for waiting guests. With a wait time that long, you might as well just get a reservation for the 6 bar seats. Luckily, their staff is very attentive. Which was a big plus. Someone spotted us waiting by the bar and immediately offered us their bar menu. The drinks made the wait a little more bearable amidst the very lightly lit room. I say lightly lit to a point that you would need your phone light just to read the menu. Blame it on the concept. It was supposed to make the place feel cozy, private and a little mysterious.

Like I said, service wasn't bad at all. Though the wait time was for more than 2 hours, we were given a seat at the bar an hour early. Not to say one hour and a half of wait time while standing was fun. Food was served fast and it was served hot. Too hot in fact I burned my tongue on my first bite of the beef cheek marmalade that was served together with the bone marrow. I always find it nice when servers warn me to be careful if they are serving charcoal hot food. I just didn't get that warning from my server. Combine that with more than an hour of waiting to eat, you have disaster. Oh.. I had disaster.

Watching the crew from our bar seat

The food was really good but it wasn't over the top good.

The Menu

Roasted Bone Marrow
with Beef cheek Marmalade

Let me start with the roasted bone marrow served with beef cheek marmalade and toast. The bone marrow was cooked well. It was creamy, salty and very fresh. On a toast and together with the sweet and chewy beef cheek marmalade, it was a bite of flavor and texture explosion. My favorite of all the layers was actually the beef marmalade. Overall combined, it did not wow me as much as the cost. At $17.95, this bone marrow breaks my bone just a little too much.

Double Cheeseburger
w/ Bacon and Fried Egg

Let's get to the burger. DO NOT EXPECT GOURMET BURGERS. Their burgers are very simple. It had layers of beef patties, cheddar cheese, light spread of dijonnaise, thin slices of pickled dill and toasted bun. I ordered the double cheeseburger which actually had 3 layers of beef patty. The beef component was seasoned well. You can taste the freshness of the beef that was used for the burger. I did miss some of the fat component that I expect from a burger patty. I think the burger lost a lot of the moisture from the griddle. The patties came out a little dry. The cheese however was perfectly melted. It hugged that beef patty like a cheese blanket. I ordered the burger with bacon and fried egg. In my opinion, it took away the focus out of the simplicity of the burger. If I get a chance to try this burgers again, I'll stay away from the fried egg and bacon. The bacon is really good (in fact, the best of my meal). There is a reason why the menu says cheeseburger not cheeseburger with bacon and egg. Overall, keeping the simplicity of the burger was really brave since the price was a whopping $12.95. At that price, i was expecting gold on my burger. The only gold I found on my burger was the cheddar cheese. The rest was plain, simple and ordinary.

The burger layers. Double Cheeseburger has 3 beef patties

Dining at Au Cheval taught me a few things. Not all things famous are good. It applies to celebrities, so why not food? Not all things are worth the wait. I waited for an hour and a half to try their burgers. I could have gone to a certain in and out place or a place where I can be greeted by a clown and maybe get myself the same burger satisfaction without the wait time. Au Cheval is a nice place. But, really? Is Au Cheval burger worth the time and $12.95 of my hard earned money?