Au Cheval’s cheeseburger is a regular feature on “Best Burger in the US” lists. We travel to Chicago’s Near West Side to see if the reality lives up to the hype.
Our Review of Au Cheval’s double cheeseburger
Located just outside the Loop on Chicago’s West Side, Au Cheval serves up one of the best burgers in the country. It’s a standard on “Best Burgers” lists, and it doesn’t disappoint in the slightest. We visited Au Cheval for a lunch with some good friends (the best way to enjoy any meal) and ordered their double cheeseburger. We added egg and bacon and ordered a side of their crispy fries with mornay sauce, garlic aioli, and fried farm egg.
Tasting the Burger
The burger came medium, though given the thinness of the patty that’s a bit more excusable than otherwise. The patty itself met every expectation, it was flavorful and savory with a unique charred crust that we’ve rarely had elsewhere. While the bun was unremarkable, that’s not a knock against it. It’s solid and holds together well, “getting out of the way” of the other incredible ingredients.
The bacon was insanely good. It was thick and soft, falling apart on the bite with just the right bit of chewiness to it (see the photo for just how unusually thick it was). It was salty and the perfect amount of fatty – it almost melts into the burger. The egg was flavorful, with a bright yellow, runny yolk that coated the burger at the bite. The cheese is mild and the pickles were good, but they got a little lost amidst the other strong flavors. The dijonnaise sauce was mild and takes a backseat to the other ingredients (not a bad thing given the quality of the rest of the burger).
The Fries
The fries are thin with a nice balance of crispy and chewy – an above average entry for the category. They’re mildly salted, allowing the potato flavor to come through. The sauces were great. The mornay was creamy and mildly cheesy, and the garlic aoili was tart and pungent. Both sauces were among the best I’ve tasted.
Everything together combined to create a great meal that didn’t disappoint on any level.
Grades
- Au Cheval’s burger is indeed one of the best in the country, topped with some of the best bacon I’ve ever had: A+.
- The fries were chewy and crispy, paired with exceptional sauces: A.
- Au Cheval deserves every mention it gets on “Best Burger” lists. The meal earns an overall: A
- The burger and fancy fries cost around $30, a lot, even for Chicago. However, the quality of the burger is still enough to keep the cost-adjusted grade an A
