The Mango Lassie

Another day, another burger. Another post on this blog, an observant reader might say, another contender for the best burger ever. But I do have to say, the latest contender is quite possibly the best I’ve had all year. That would be the char burger at Edzo’s Burger Shop in Evanston, Illinois. I went there last month when I was in town for work and stayed with Slim McDinner, Lobster Bisque and the Reading Corndog (Sous Chef was away on business) for a night. Slim had been talking up the Edzo’s burger for a while, so I was eager to get a chance to give it a try. Edzo’s was started by Eddie Lakin, a former fine dining chef, who decided to open a burger joint. But this is not just any burger joint. The all-American beef is never frozen and is freshly ground in house every morning. It’s served on a superb brioche bun. The fries are hand-cut and fried, not once, but twice. In short, Edzo’s is not messing around.

Slim had an appointment the afternoon he took me to Edzo’s, so we had to take our food out, but I watched as the cooks prepared the burgers and fries. The restaurant is decorated with vintage burger and hot dog shop signs and placards. Perhaps the coolest is the menu itself, which is displayed on one of those lit-up Coca-Cola-sponsored boards where moveable letters spelling out the offerings are arranged on the grooved surface. Despite these vintage touches, it’s a pretty unprententious place with a simple menu. In addition to burgers, the menu features hot dogs, shakes and a chicken sandwich or two. It’s obvious that burgers are the things to get.

Burgers are, of course, available with cheese (cheddar, American, Swiss, blue and pepperjack) and other toppings (jalapeños, giardinera, garlic butter, bacon, sauteed mushrooms, fried egg), but in my humble opinion, a truly great burger must be able to stand alone. The 1/2-lb. burger I brought back was dressed with only the basics. I added mustard and ketchup and dug in. The patty was charred so the surface was perfectly crusty and almost black, but inside the meat remained pink and tender. It was an ideal texture and flavor combination, and I only wished Empanada Boy were there to taste it with me. Needless to say, it stood up just fine without all the fancy trimmings.

Edzo’s makes fries in flavors like Buffalo, cheese and truffle. Slim and I ordered the garlic fries, which were delicious, flecked with glistening specs of minced garlic. It’s so much more pleasant to eat fries that taste like they’ve recently been part of a potato in the ground than to eat those shapeless, flavorless pre-formed and pre-frozen sticks that some other restaurants try to pass off as good.

As he usually is about matters culinary, Slim was right about the greatness of Edzo’s. It makes a truly glorious burger that won’t easily be surpassed in my record books. I might even go so far as to recommend that a burger devotee visiting Chicago take a little detour and head up to Evanston for lunch.

Edzo’s Burger Shop
1571 Sherman Ave.
Evanston, IL 60201
847.864.3396

Empanada Boy and I are ringing in the new year in Evanston with his sister Sous Chef, our brother-in-law Slim McDinner, our niece the Reading Corndog and our nephew Lobster Bisque. Slim McDinner has been busy perfecting the art of curing his own pork products, including sausages, bacon and pancetta. He grinds meat with his Kitchen Aid mixer and ages his creations in the basement utility room. I wanted my January tribute to Gourmet to be a vegetable dish because we had already decided to make handmade pasta with Bolognese sauce (including the homemade pancetta) for our main course. As I scanned the vegetable sides on Epicurious, I noticed a simple, but delicious looking, Brussels sprouts recipe that called for pancetta. At first it seemed like too much pancetta for one meal, but then I reconsidered: How could there be too much pancetta? It is New Year’s Eve, after all.

The dish made an excellent counterpart to our opulent New Year’s feast. The Brussels sprouts became sweet and caramelized, and the pancetta brought everything to a higher plane. This is a dish for the decade! Happy 2010!

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Garlic and Pancetta

yield: Makes 4 servings
active time: 10 min
total time: 35 min

Ingredients
1 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved (quartered if large)
2 oz pancetta, visible fat discarded and pancetta minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 450°F.

Toss together Brussels sprouts, pancetta, garlic, oil, and salt and pepper to taste in an 11- by 7-inch baking pan and spread in 1 layer.

Roast in upper third of oven, stirring once halfway through roasting, until sprouts are brown on edges and tender, about 25 minutes total. Stir in water, scraping up brown bits. Serve warm.

See my other Gourmet, Unbound posts:
April 2010, Shrimp Scampi Pasta
March 2010, Chicken with Black-Pepper Maple Sauce
February 2010, Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream
December 2009, Walnut Spice Cake with Lemon Glaze

It’s usually a good sign when a burger joint offers toppings like wasabi or curry mayo, whole grain mustard aioli and chipotle ketchup. Crispy, home-cut fries and fluffy cornmeal-dusted buns are further pluses. But when that burger joint calls itself Über Bürger, the burgers had better be the stars of the show. I went to this retro, flower-power-inspired Evanston diner with Empanada Boy, Sushi Sister, Croque Monsieur, Slim McDinner, Sous Chef, the Reading Corn Dog and Avocado Boy to see whether it would live up to its name.

I ordered the “Big Bürger,” which comes with one patty (as opposed to the “Bigger Bürger” and “Über Bürger”, with two and three patties, respectively). I couldn’t help wondering whether the umlaut on burger would make it BOO-guhr, but I pushed the thought aside so it wouldn’t cloud my vision of the food. The mustard aioli was my topping of choice. The burger arrived on that distinctive, cornmeal-topped roll with a not-so-distinctive clump of iceberg lettuce, a tomato slice and a pickle spear. The bread and sauce were points in its favor, and the meat was of far better quality than most cheap places, but the patty was over-cooked. This is the ultimate sin in burger preparation; good meat should be left slightly pink and juicy, not cooked to the point of being almost indistinguishable from its fast-food brethren. This was a decent burger, but I wouldn’t call it “über” in any way. The fries I shared with EB, Sushi Sister and Reading Corn Dog were nicely browned and tasty. They tasted even better dipped in Sous Chef’s curry mayo. I’ll order that sauce the next time I come.

Burgers aren’t the only option at Über Burger. The menu also includes mac and cheese, grilled cheese and chili. I tried all of these, thanks to Avocado Boy, Reading Corn Dog and Croque Monsieur. None was very memorable. True to his contrarian nature and spirit of adventure, Empanada Boy decided to try the chicken po’boy picture here. It came on a fittingly dry and crackly bun with another tasty mayonnaise, but the breaded chicken breast was fairly mediocre. I’m not even sure the meat was prepared in the restaurant. Über Burger’s true specialty might have been its ice cream and frozen yogurt. Empanada Boy and I would have liked to finish things off that way, but we had to drive Sushi Sister and Croque Monsieur to the airport for their flight back to Portland.

The next time I’m looking for a quick, cheap burger in Evanston, I may give Über Burger another try. I still don’t think it will be able to live up to its name. I’m more likely to stop in for an ice cream cone. That’s one dish that’s almost never disappointing.

Über Burger
618 Church St.
Evanston, IL 60201
847.866.5200

After my lackluster experience at The Grafton Pub, I wasn’t too keen on trying the food at another Irish pub. But my soon-to-be-brother-in-law Slim McDinner assured me that the food at the Celtic Knot Pub in Evanston was worth sampling. Empanada Boy, Slim and I went there with Popcorn Princess, Drumstix and their baby Milkman who were visiting from Madison. We went late on a snowy evening, but the restaurant and bar were so filled with people that we still had at least a 20 minute wait to sit down. We sat at the bar (smoke free in Evanston) and enjoyed a Boddington’s or two while we waited.

The food was definitely better than the Grafton, and the festively decorated, wood-paneled space, filled with happy, beer-drinking patrons made the meal seem even more authentic. I steered away from shepherd’s pie, this time deciding to revel in the glories of Irish meat products with the Full Monty Irish Breakfast (shown above). This dish comes with bangers (sausages), bacon, black and white pudding (sausage made by cooking blood and sausage made from pork meat, suet and oatmeal, respectively), eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms, baked beans and fried bread. This was a feast of delicious animal parts like only the Irish could do it. Slim also ordered well, selecting the rich, hearty lamb stew with rustic Irish brown bread.

Empanada Boy did a more scientific comparison between the Celtic Knot and the Grafton by ordering the fish and chips. The flaky fish came in an equally flaky shell with excellent fries and a mild curry for dipping. EB’s assessment: the fish and chips at the Celtic Knot trounced the Grafton’s, the latter of which both of us had thought were pretty good. Popcorn Princess enjoyed the fish of the day, a tilapia filet, simply cooked in butter with lemon juice and vegetables on the side. Drumstix had a delicious looking steak sandwich with Provolone cheese and roasted red peppers. Despite the general gorging that took place, we decided to finish things off with some dessert. We ordered the convenient dessert sampler, which came with smaller portions of three different items. Our universal favorite was the sticky toffee pudding, which had only a slight toffee flavor, but was warm, well-spiced and deeply flavorful.

It’s great to know that an Irish pub in the Chicagoland area can really produce food that’s authentic and delicious. At first glance, the Celtic Knot may seem like just another bar, but a mere bite of banger elevates it to gastropub status.

The Celtic Knot Pub
626 Church St.
Evanston, IL 60201
847.864.1679

It’s hard to believe that summer has already begun. That’s not to say it hasn’t been feeling pretty summer-ish with the hot, muggy days we’ve been having here in Chicago. But perhaps it’s just that fleeting nature of spring that makes me regard the first, fresh, local produce it yields as bordering on sacred.

I wasn’t expecting to find those spring delicacies when Empanada Boy and I finally managed to get ourselves out to the farmer’s market yesterday. We went to the Evanston Farmer’s Market because I’ve regularly been disappointed by the representation and prices at the Green City Market, which is Chicago’s primary location. There is also free parking in Evanston, which is a definite plus.

To put it bluntly, we spent a lot of money. We started with croissants for breakfast and then bought a loaf of bread. Our other purchases included succulent Michigan strawberries, a raw milk aged cheddar, beets, rhubarb, organic ground lamb, a basil plant, asparagus and morel mushrooms. Of all the items we purchased, it was these last two that represented the last vestiges of spring. I decided to highlight them in a delicious risotto from the April, 2006 issue of Gourmet . It’s a perfect way to bid farewell to the last season and usher in the new.

Risotto with Asparagus and Morel Ragout

Ingredients

3/4 oz dried morel mushrooms (1 cup) or 1/4 lb fresh
6 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 cups water
1 lb medium asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally into 1-inch-long pieces (about 3 cups)
1/2 small onion, finely chopped (1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
2/3 cup finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/4 oz) plus additional for serving
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
1/2 cup frozen baby peas
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest
2 teaspoons chopped fresh chives

Preparation

If using dried morels, soak in warm water to cover 30 minutes. Agitate dried morels in soaking water or fresh morels in cold water to dislodge grit, then lift from water, squeezing out excess. Pat dry with paper towels. Cut morels (fresh or dried) crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices.

Bring broth and water to a boil in a 4-quart pot. Add asparagus and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer asparagus with a slotted spoon to a large bowl of ice and cold water to stop cooking, then drain and pat dry. Reserve 1 cup broth mixture for ragout and keep remaining broth at a bare simmer.

Cook onion in oil in a 5- to 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring, until softened, about 3 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add wine and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 1/2 cup hot broth mixture and simmer briskly, stirring constantly, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding hot broth mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly and letting each addition be absorbed before adding the next, until rice is just tender and creamy-looking, 18 to 22 minutes. (There will be leftover broth mixture. Reserve for thinning risotto.)

Stir cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper into risotto, then remove from heat and let stand, covered, while making ragout.

Heat 2 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then sauté morels and garlic, stirring occasionally, until garlic is pale golden, about 4 minutes. Pour in 1 cup reserved broth and bring to a boil. Stir in peas, asparagus, zest, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are heated through, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add remaining 2 tablespoons butter, swirling skillet until butter is incorporated, then season ragout with salt and pepper.

Thin risotto to desired consistency with some of leftover broth and season with salt and pepper. Divide risotto among 4 shallow bowls. Spoon asparagus and morel ragout (with liquid) on top and sprinkle with chives.

Cooks’ note:
Dried morels can be soaked and patted dry 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.