Fatburger coming to Chicagoland

Fatburger coming to Chicagoland

Carnivores and cardiologists rejoice!

The concept doesn't travel well based on my experience with the Tampa branch (as compared with my wealth of LA samples). 5 Guys appears to translate better across regions by the same measure, and thus I hold out hope that they make it to Chicago.

Fatburger to open in Orland
The Orland restaurant, 15110 S. LaGrange, would likely open toward the end of September, Andy Wiederhorn, Fatburger's chairman, said Tuesday. A store near the intersection of 95th Street and Western Avenue may open by late December or early January, he said.
http://www.southtownstar.com/business/1 ... er.article

I had Fatburger a few years back when i was in LA. I wasnt impressed at all. I thought it was clearly the ugly court jester to LA's burger royalty - In N Out Burger.

JeffB wrote:The concept doesn't travel well based on my experience with the Tampa branch (as compared with my wealth of LA samples).

Fatburger in Phoenix and Vegas are indistinguishable from the LA locations I have visited. I hold out some hope. The Kingburger with bacon topped with an egg and a hand-dipped chocolate shake is a recipe for glorious fast food.

I think Fatburger is great. I love the fat fries, and they make a great milkshake. I'm excited by this, but I'm not happy it's only on the south side so far.

The family and I did a taste test b/w In-and-Out and Fatburger in Scottsdale a few years ago. In-and-Out won on the burger, but it was closer than I would have thought. If I recall the Fatburger fries were preferred by three out of four, but the fries at In-and-Out are more than adequate. Short of In-and-Out coming, Fatburger is a nice addition to the fast food landscape, far superior to McD's, Burger King, etc., up there with Culver's.

Now when are we going to get a Five Guys?? It may be nostalgia--I lived for some time near one of the first locations in Alexandria, Va.--but I loves me some Five Guys.

i've had it in the vegas location as well as LA... i agree that the vegas locality was just as good.

however, i'm not really all that excited that it's coming. even if it is owned by kanye west.

personally i get so sick of hearing people wanting this chain or that chain to come to chicago. half the fun in traveling to other places is trying their food, even if it's some cult-following chain. if you want five guys, get off your a$@ and travel. plus usually when a chain expands way beyond it's borders it starts to become more and more reminiscent of ...a chain. i always say "remember when subway was good?" (or sonic... or quiznos... or chik-fil-a... orrrr.... even mcdonald's once probably had a really fantastic burger)

....it'll be interesting to see how Top Notch burgers competes with having a fatburger two blocks away on 95th. maybe it'll give them reason to improve.

dddane wrote:personally i get so sick of hearing people wanting this chain or that chain to come to chicago. half the fun in traveling to other places is trying their food, even if it's some cult-following chain. if you want five guys, get off your a$@ and travel. plus usually when a chain expands way beyond it's borders it starts to become more and more reminiscent of ...a chain.

I agree with you. In the "old days", if you wanted Cajun products, you had to head down to Louisana. Now, very few thing cannot be found in your grocery stores. Fifteen years ago, I would fill two to three boxes with stuff to bring home from Trader Joe's and other places. It has been years since I have carried more than 10# home from a trip.

What makes people look for Sonic or Jack in the Box in this area is that their ads have been running non-stop for several years.

Personally, I have never tried Fatburger as it seems expensive for a fast food burger.

....it'll be interesting to see how Top Notch burgers competes with having a fatburger two blocks away on 95th. maybe it'll give them reason to improve.

What improvement does Top Notch need?

Seriously. If in-n-out is better than Fatburger, Top Notch should blow it out of the water.

Mike G wrote:What improvement does Top Notch need?

taste?

Huge Fatburger fan here. Just read the the Chicago Biz article via Variety's food blog:
http://weblogs.variety.com/theknife/200 ... -brin.html

Fatburger tastes every bit better than in-n-out, especially at the double-the-fun location in West Hollywood: http://tinyurl.com/6ogs84 . It's got soul cuz it's got an egg. according to Mom's burger in Compton, CA (ignore the obscure LA reference here), the egg gives it "soul", and bacon is the "chronic".

This news, albeit for Orland Park, just stomps on the Sonic Drive-In tidbit for the week.

I spied the Fatburger sign today in Orland on Lagrange Rd and 152nd. It is located in a store front on the end of a 3 unit strip center building with a yet to open Jimmy Johns on the other end and an empty space in the middle. Construction appeared to be progressing well. Having never been to a Fatburger, I was a little dissapoined as I was expecting a stand alone place with a drive thru.

I'm cautiously looking forward to this. Sacrilegious it may be, but I prefer both Fatburger and In 'n' Out to Top Notch. Sorry. As for Fatburger and In 'n' Out, that's tough. I'd give Fatburger the slight edge for better burgers, but I've been to many more In 'n' Outs than Fatburgers. In 'n' Out is perhaps my ideal fast food chain.

Oh God how I miss having an IN-N-OUT 5 minutes from my home in California. Every time I head back home to Santa Maria a Double-Double animal style and dark fries are not far behind.

Anyone a fan of their Neapolitan shake?

Why can't Chicago get an IN-N-OUT instead of Patty Burger?

Anyone expecting anything special from Fatburger will be sorely disappointed.....

Agreed. Fatburger schmatburger. Give me some In N' Out. Till then I stick with Wiener's Circle.

Marshall K wrote:I spied the Fatburger sign today in Orland on Lagrange Rd and 152nd. It is located in a store front on the end of a 3 unit strip center building with a yet to open Jimmy Johns on the other end and an empty space in the middle. Construction appeared to be progressing well. Having never been to a Fatburger, I was a little dissapoined as I was expecting a stand alone place with a drive thru.

I thought it might be a stand alone too, but they might not want to deal with drive-thru customers. Remember that you will have to wait for your food at Fatburger as most items are made to order like at Steak N Shake, In N Out, and Jack In The Box. (I wish ALL fast food places would ask you if you wanted to wait - I prefer my food fresh every time).

There's a 24 hour Fatburger in the casino of the Texas Station Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas that came in real handy during some middle of the night gaming for me and my friends a couple of times.

Friends, Romans and countrymen - I have just returned from a 4 day trip to LA, and while there i renewed my savage and torrid love affair with the maiden named In-n-Out. I also hit up Fatburger for good measure.

Fatburger - not bad, but nothing special. The truth of the matter is that IMO, Chicagoans are hard to please when it comes to burgers because most of us have grown up with local charburger options in our neigborhoods, thereby making noncharred versions harder to please us. If i'd never been to Chicago before, i might think of Fatburger as a great burger, but to me it was just average. There was nothing special about the beef, or the egg topping, even.

In-n-Out - charburger shmarburger. When a burger's this badass, a griddle will do. I swear I ate thse every single day, including grabbing two for my flight outta LA, which caused a damn-near riot in the airplane when i peeled back the waxpaper and the masses smelled my greasy treasure. i'm in the minority in that i could care less about their fries, but their burger is my favorite from a chain. Fresh, perfectly sized in the double variety, and well balanced with a beefy taste that doesnt have the after-essence of a Swansons salisbury steak.

At my cousin's wedding, two of the people at my table and I made an In N Out run while dinner was being served! We received frantic phone calls from other relatives, begging us to bring back burgers for them, too. . .we smuggled back about 8 burgers and ate them int he parking lot, while the rest of the wedding party at bland chicken.

Peasants! . . let them eat cake. . .

I have to agree with you, Ghazi. Normally, TonyC and I rately disagree on the subject of that which is tasty.

But, the Fatburger Burger just doesn't do it for me. It may be in my Top Twenty, maybe Top 30 burger list along with some good, but less than spectacular chains like What A Burger of the Southwest and Sonic of Jesus-land.

But, man, even in my state of not being able to eat what i used to, I'll gladly take three bites of an In n Out over 20 bites of anything else any day of the week. it has to be a double double for me. It has to be animal style. And it has to be with a chocolate shake.

If they ever put me in the Electric Chair, I hope like hell that they do it at a penitentary in Southern California because death at the hands of the state would be more justifiable in my book if they gave me a double double as my last meal.

Kanye West- fast food mogul?

I was heading out to the CostPlus in Orland today and drove by the Fatburger site. Looks like they have the neon sign installed and going, the windows are papered over so I didn't really spy how far they were on the construction.

Hi I'm new to town, here from Los Angeles, so I guess I was spoiled by having an In-N-Out close by almost anywhere I went in So. Cal. I've been looking around on the Internet (here, Chowhound, Yelp, etc) for burger joints around Chicago that might fill the In-N-Out void in my stomach.

I stopped at The Wiener's Circle for a charburger, but it just didn't do it for me. I wonder if it's the lack of thousand island dressing (called "spread" at In-N-Out)?

I've read good and bad about Choppers on Ashland and Wabansia, so I guess I'll have to try it.

Any other places that might be able to compare? I'm hoping to find places that won't be more than ~30 minutes away by bus/train from Fullerton Pkwy. & Clark St. in Lincoln Park.

Thanks!

Edit: Just to clarify, I'm looking for burger stands, not bar/restaurant burgers that will cost more than $6 or so.

mr_pollock wrote:Hi I'm new to town, here from Los Angeles, so I guess I was spoiled by having an In-N-Out close by almost anywhere I went in So. Cal. I've been looking around on the Internet (here, Chowhound, Yelp, etc) for burger joints around Chicago that might fill the In-N-Out void in my stomach.

I stopped at The Wiener's Circle for a charburger, but it just didn't do it for me. I wonder if it's the lack of thousand island dressing (called "spread" at In-N-Out)?

I've read good and bad about Choppers on Ashland and Wabansia, so I guess I'll have to try it.

Any other places that might be able to compare? I'm hoping to find places that won't be more than ~30 minutes away by bus/train from Fullerton Pkwy. & Clark St. in Lincoln Park.

Thanks!

Edit: Just to clarify, I'm looking for burger stands, not bar/restaurant burgers that will cost more than $6 or so.

For fast-food burgers, I would give Culver's a shot.

The only Culver's I could find was about 30 miles away, which would probably take about an hour to get to by bus, if a bus even went out that far.

Is there one in Lincoln Park/Lakeview or some other neighboring neighborhood?

mr_pollock wrote:The only Culver's I could find was about 30 miles away, which would probably take about an hour to get to by bus, if a bus even went out that far.

Is there one in Lincoln Park/Lakeview or some other neighboring neighborhood?

I'd suggest a trip to Muskie's on Lincoln if you're transportation challenged. While Muskie's is not a chain (thank goodness), they prepare some very good burgers that compare favorably with an LA burger stand. Good shakes, too.

Muskie's
2878 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
(773) 883-1633

stevez wrote:

mr_pollock wrote:The only Culver's I could find was about 30 miles away, which would probably take about an hour to get to by bus, if a bus even went out that far.

Is there one in Lincoln Park/Lakeview or some other neighboring neighborhood?

I'd suggest a trip to Muskie's on Lincoln if you're transportation challenged. While Muskie's is not a chain (thank goodness), they prepare some very good burgers that compare favorably with an LA burger stand. Good shakes, too.

Muskie's
2878 N. Lincoln Ave
Chicago, IL
(773) 883-1633

Great, thanks!

Artie wrote:Fatburger to open in Orland
The Orland restaurant, 15110 S. LaGrange, would likely open toward the end of September, Andy Wiederhorn, Fatburger's chairman, said Tuesday. A store near the intersection of 95th Street and Western Avenue may open by late December or early January, he said.
http://www.southtownstar.com/business/1 ... er.article

The Orland Park location is supposed to open tomorrow.

Oh, goodie. I drove my younger daughter to the mall yesterday and tried to stare into the window as I drove slowly past. It was clearly not open yet, but I knew it would be soon.

Suzy

mr_pollock wrote:The only Culver's I could find was about 30 miles away, which would probably take about an hour to get to by bus, if a bus even went out that far.

Is there one in Lincoln Park/Lakeview or some other neighboring neighborhood?

Twice last year I took the Megabus to Milwaukee (@ $8.00 roundtrip depending on availability) just to spend an afternoon eating at the Downtown Mall food court (Grand Avenue Mall). Rocky Rococo and Culver's are literally within 50 yards of each other (I know I'm absolutely in the minority, but for some reason, I love Rocky Rococo).

It's a pretty cheap trip and a nice way to kill a day. The Bus stops in front of the Amtrak Station which is about three blocks from the mall. I usually eat, go to The Milwaukee Public Museum, and then comeback eat some more, and take extras for the bus trip home.

For my money, Culver's is the best fast food burger joint in the area. I would love for there to be one on the North Side or even near suburbs (I mean c'mon, that Evanston Steak n' Shake on Oakton would do ten times the business if it were a Culver's instead). As it is, I go out to the Western 'burbs once a month or so and usually hit the one on Ogden Avenue or the one on Roosevelt Road after leaving Katy's Dumplings!