Food Babies: Top Notch Beefburgers

-By Keith

(Photos Courtesy of Lthforum.com)


The Truth

As Food Babies slowly wakes up from its winter hibernation, the foodie scene in Chicago is at an all time fever pitch. Scalpers are asking $3,000 for tickets to dine at Next (about 15 times more expensive than a 4 hour, 22 course meal at 3 star Michelined Alinea) . And people are waiting in line for 2 hours before they find out the Doughnut Vault is sold out of $3 dollar pieces of fried dough. Even atop my soapbox I realize that as the writer of a food blog I'm not so different from some of these folks. Hell, I recently paid $75 to help a chef breakdown a 200 lb hog. But sometimes, well most of the time, its nice to go to a place where you can get great food and don't have to be surround by a packed restaurant full of people tweeting about what they just ate. Top Notch Beef Burgers is one of those places.

The larger than life "Top Notch" Beef Burger sign that rises up like a beacon from the strip malls lining 95th St boldly proclaims the following, "Burgers, Fries, Shakes...The Best." Often, when a restaurant claims they serve the best anything, its probably not the case (see Elf for an example), however, in my humble opinion, Top Notch is speaking the truth. So what makes Top Notch the best? Let's break it down item by glorious item.

Burgers:

When discussing a food as ubiquitous as a cheeseburger, everyone has their own idea of what makes a certain version the "best." For me, its simplicity. Although I enjoy the burgers at places like Kuma's, often times there are so many extra ingredients (fried egg, jalapenos, avocado, pulled pork, pineapples, etc.) that you can barely taste the star of the show - the beef. While Top Notch appears to have given into this trend as well, now offering items like the "Italian" (mozzarella cheese, marinara sauce, green pepper, onion) and the "Mexican" (jalapeno cheese, salsa, guacamole, green pepper, raw or grilled onion), I highly recommend sticking with the classic quarter pound beef burger.

Burger Perfection

Top Notch does a few things that make their burgers stand out. First, they grind their own beef (Choice Top Round) daily. Second, they fry their freshly ground burgers in beef fat on an ancient looking griddle that has years of flavor built into the surface (think your cast iron skillet on steroids). While grilled burgers have that great smokey taste, I much prefer the incredible crust (see below for a food porn shot) that Top Notch achieves by searing their burgers on a hot griddle. Third, they get fresh buns delivered daily from a nearby bakery. Unlike the increasingly popular ginormous pretzel bun, the buns at Top Notch simultaneously provide a solid and appropriately sized foundation for the meat and a pillowy interior that melts as you bite through it. Fourth, they use processed American Cheese. Normally this would be a bad thing. However, the combination of childhood nostalgia that it induces and the gooey, melted mess that only processed cheese can become when placed on a hot burger is well worth ingesting a few preservatives. So that's it, four simple steps to burger perfection. While I often order my burgers with cheese only, other acceptable additions include pickles and caramelized onions - anything else is just getting in the way of greatness.

The Goods

Fries:

Much like their burgers, simplicity is the key to Top Notch's incredibly delicious french fries. Here are the basic steps - peel and cut potatoes daily, deep fry in beef tallow to order, salt, serve. While a lot of places these days serve fresh cut fries, not many are deep frying them in beef fat. Is this healthy? Absolutely not. Does it make the exterior of the french fry crispy, the interior soft, and give them a slightly beefy flavor? Yes please. For those of you who miss the way french fries at McDonald's used to taste, Top Notch should certainly satisfy your craving. Not into french fries? The onion rings at Top Notch are freshly cut, breaded and fried in beef tallow as well.

Shakes:

Although I can't comment on how the shakes at Top Notch are made, I do know that they are appropriately rich, so thick they need to be eaten with a spoon, and the perfect compliment to the savory burgers and salty fries.

While I wish I could get out to Top Notch more often, a desire to live into my 30's and the traffic on the Dan Ryan are strong enough deterrents to limit my visits to an acceptable number. For those of you haven't visited Top Notch I highly suggest making the trip. Not only will you get to taste one of, if not the best classic burgers in Chicago for about $3, it's a great reminder that food doesn't need to be trendy or pretentious to be great.