Rubbbqco, Da Beef, and Katie, the main point about the Moonshine Burger was the experience for the customer. The experience ultimately brings customers back. However, there are five criteria for a great food experience: sight, smell, sound, taste, and touch.

Moonshine may not offer the best burger, but it offers a memorable experience and to some, it is the best burger.

Doug Sohn, owner of Hot Doug's was a master of the encased meat experience:
1. Sight: Primary colors on the wall and seating with lots of hot dog schtick on the walls
2. Smell: Steaming buns, grilled onions, fresh cut fries, and encased meats
3. Sound: The blaring of happy feet music
4. Taste: Exotic game sausages with unique toppings, duck fat fries, and designer bottled soft drinks with real sugar
5. Touch: Doug was always there to greet and schmooze with you when taking your order and made you feel like family

Max wrote:

Royal Lichter wrote:Just proof that it simply has to taste good in order to be successful.

Honest question to everyone following this thread and not trying to argue, but is it proof that it simply has to taste good in order to be successful, or is it proof that marketing can convince people that generic food service beef is better than it really is? Perception is often reality. If the same exact patties and cheese were used at a 24 hour diner, would they be written off as "over cooked, frozen hockey pucks?"

Telling people they're eating the #1 burger in America gives a certain perception. Telling them they're eating a burger made by this company would likely lead to a different perception: Founded in 1946, WW Johnson Meat Company provides ground beef products and patties to the food service industry -- such as hospitals, elderly care organizations, and restaurants.

Sorry if this is OT, but it's something I've been discussing with friends since the eater article months ago.

Marketing plays a role, I think. The process is certainly part of the fun… Reading about it, talking to friends about it, driving down there, waiting with suspense, getting the burger by the time you are starved, etc. It's an experience just as much as it is a meal. Sodikoff's marketing is absolutely stellar…that's for sure. And I do love Hogsalt…!

But I do stand by my comments with respect to taste.

I'm a fan of the Moonshine burger, even own a handcrafted Moonshine mug. It's so not about the burger(good, nothing mind-blowing), it's the history; my partner's been going there since he was a boy, the getting there, you just have to know where it is, or be taken there by someone who does. Moonshine's a gestalt experience, the myriad condiment and pickle jars crowding a table, the picnic benches outside. Limited hours, once they're done, they are done. I'm surprised to still be reading about Au Cheval. Had drinks a few times when it first opened, dined in a couple of times. I liked the heat off the range, the reel-to-reel, the darkness. Our thing was to have drinks there before dinner at Girl and the Goat. Years ago now. Well, bully for them.

chicagostyledog wrote:

Royal Lichter wrote:At the very least I think that it was a bit predictable to choose Au Cheval, given the amount of press that not that restaurant, but that *burger* has gotten, on a national level. I would've loved to hear about some fantastic ma-and-pa joint in the middle of nowhere serving great burgers. Those kind of joints are the kind of joints I personally think of at least, when I'm thinking of "the best burger in America."

I guess there's some hard-to-quantify element of "Americana" a joint should have, in my opinion. All that said I'll probably eat an Au Cheval cheeseburger at least more than once again...

Here's the place that you've been looking for! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGkBilF6GU8

CSD

Or almost any of the places in the "Smashed crispy burgers of central Illinois" thread.

I've never been here, but last night my wife and I decided to try and check it out to see how great this burger was... at 7:30pm we were quoted 4 1/2 HOUR wait!?!? So we could eat at midnight?!?!

Who would actually wait that long for a table... even if it's considered the best burger in town? Has anybody here actually stuck around after a quote like that, and what was the actual wait? I've had Kuma's quote 2 1/2 hours and a table's ready an hour later.

We ended up at Little Goat, where the wait was 30 min., and the burger was decent but overpriced once a side was added -- 2 burgers, a side of fries, a side of elotes, two soft drinks and w/ tax & tip we were over $50.

blipsman wrote:Who would actually wait that long for a table... even if it's considered the best burger in town?

I wouldn't be surprised if some people put their name down, go out for dinner #1, and then head to Au Cheval for post drinking dinner #2.

While the wait could certainly end up being shorter, I was once quoted three and half hours at Frontera Grill. Three and half hours later, almost to the minute, they called my cell and said my table was ready. By then we had finished dinner and were pulling into the garage.

Darren72 wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if some people put their name down, go out for dinner #1, and then head to Au Cheval for post drinking dinner #2.

Well, that's sort of what we did the time we got the 2 1/2 hr. quote at Kuma's... went for "appetizers" at Scooter's. And then when we got back an hour later, they sat us within a few minutes and we were still full from custard!

The current strategy appears to be to show up between 4:15 to 4:30, commander a seat and a cocktail, and wait for the kitchen to open; they start taking food orders at 4:45.

Of course, that doesn't change the fact that the food, while good, is strictly one-note, but if you want to go and not "wait," this seems to be the trick.

blipsman wrote:I've never been here, but last night my wife and I decided to try and check it out to see how great this burger was... at 7:30pm we were quoted 4 1/2 HOUR wait!?!? So we could eat at midnight?!?!

I havent been in almost a year, however I was quoted a 90+ minute wait a few times, only to get a text 45min later.

long101 wrote:I havent been in almost a year, however I was quoted a 90+ minute wait a few times, only to get a text 45min later.

Thanks! Yeah, that was the kind of insights I was looking for... I know some places are pretty good with exact quotes, others make you wait well past the quoted time, while others offer a pleasant surprise when the wait is half what you were expecting. I wonder if it's still about half the quoted time now. I should try putting in my name on the way home from work (can get from office in West Loop to Blue line via 8 bus) and see how long the wait actually is.

Apparently, Au Cheval is the new Hot Doug's, complete with line halfway down the block before 11am this morning.


I'll pass.

It must be the free extra patty.

Darren72 wrote:It must be the free extra patty.

Lol, good one!

I enjoy Au Cheval, but just not a place I'd wait long for. Crazy what some press can do to a venue's popularity.

Wow. Only six weeks ago, five of us waited a mere ten minutes on a Wednesday. We didn't get the burger...

...because it's the least special thing on that menu

'Small Chevel,' Outpost of Famed West Loop Burger Spot, Replaces Roxie's

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150724 ... ces-roxies

Dave148 wrote:

'Small Chevel,' Outpost of Famed West Loop Burger Spot, Replaces Roxie's

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150724 ... ces-roxies

Good! Now maybe I can finally try this burger... plus this is a short walk across the 606 from home

If they manage to replicate the Au Cheval burger and it's only a 10 minute walk from my apartment, it's a damn good thing that I just got a new gym membership.

I would not expect short wait times if it is in any way just as good as the Au Cheval burger. Maybe when it first opens but once it catches on kiss the short wait times goodbye. Demand for successful Sodikoff venues exceeds its ability to supply/capacity by many times over.

All that said I'm super excited for burgers and shakes within walking distance!

I live nearby the new location as well, but I'm not sure if we should expect the same experience. From the write up above, it doesnt even seem like they will be offering an egg?

There were reports last Spring that Sodikoff was in negotiations to buy the old Silver Cloud space, it will be interesting to see if that plays any part in this recent shuffle with Roxies/Cheval.

An interesting and surprisingly positive take by Hannah Goldfield at the New Yorker's website on Au Cheval's recently opened outpost in Manhattan (Tribeca) . . .

at newyorker.com, Hannah Goldfield wrote:Tucked away on Cortlandt Alley, a narrow, timeless-feeling backstreet just south of Canal, the dining room has clubby décor that evokes a Gilded Age tavern—all brick walls, dark wood, leather banquettes, and medieval-looking light fixtures. The food, too, contributes to this historical fantasy. Au Cheval bills itself as a diner, but the menu feels more late-nineteenth-century than mid-twentieth, with dishes like roasted marrow, served glistening in the bone, accompanied by squishy toasted pain de mie and a ramekin of warmly spiced beef-cheek marmalade; soft-scrambled eggs in a luscious sherry-shallot gravy, strewn with lobes of foie gras; and wonderfully crisp, salty potatoes, available as hash, in cubes, or as thick-cut fries in a silver cup.

A Famous Chicago Burger Comes to New York

=R=

Anyone been recently?
Still as good as advertised?
Still long waits?
Compared to Owen & Engine...?
Someplace else you would go instead?

hoppy2468 wrote:Anyone been recently?
Still as good as advertised?
Still long waits?
Compared to Owen & Engine...?
Someplace else you would go instead?

I've only been to Small Cheval, and it's a darn fine burger, but I wouldn't put it in Edzo's class.

It's still a tasty burger. A 45 minute wait at 6pm on a Saturday got us two seats at the counter. A pour of Half Acre's "Big Hugs" paired really well with the rootbeer float for dessert.

I don't know if it's as good as ever since it was my first time, but it's really damn good. I went last Wednesday at 5 PM, hoping to avoid the lines that had kept me away until then, and got to sit right away at the bar. By the time I left at 6 or so people were quoted a 30 minute wait. It's more diner-style than owen and engine; I don't know if I can pick a favorite, but O&E had been my favorite burger in the city until that point. Sitting at the bar it was really cool to see the how much care the Au Cheval folks put into every part of the burger-making process. I got a double (triple) with bacon and an egg, and a root beer. The rest of the menu looked really good but I'm not sure how often folks explore it.

Love,
John