Maillard Tavern

 

The Maillard Tavern is the chemical reaction that browns meat when it's heated, so I guess that it's appropriate to name a burger joint after it.  It was founded by, the chef and restauranteur of popular Italian restaurant, Piccolo Sogno and is actually located across the street from it in a small triangular building that had been empty for more than 20 years.  While I will grant that a good chef is constantly learning and burgers are relatively easy, when I think of Italian chefs/restaurants, fried foods and burgers are not the first things that come to mind.  Tony Priolo, the chef, has been working with the market for many years and is very familiar with the farmers and vendors, so the food could be counted on to be fresh and local.  Despite it's small size, it might seat 36 people, the space actually has two entrances.  The main entrance is at the front corner, but there is a small step inside, so there is an ADA compliant entrance that comes in in front of the kitchen in the back of the dining room.  The bar is located along one wall with the kitchen opposite it in what is essentially the back corner.  There is a large service counter for the kitchen where you can see inside the kitchen somewhat.  While you really can't see the complete layout, because of the shape of the building, I have to imagine that the kitchen is also triangular.  There are big windows surrounding the entrance with the other walls painted blue.  Other light comes from the lights laid out vertically from the high ceiling, but hanging horizontally.

 

Seating was either at a four top or at the bar.  As I was by myself, there was no reason for me to take a four top, so I sat at the bar which I like to do anyway.  They had a good liquor selection and a small but well varied tap list.  I was amused to see a Minion standing at the bar seemingly running things.  I do suppose that they can run things as long as they can be kept from touching anything.  Things seemed to run well, so I guess that they were being successful in that regard.  While they did have a good tap list and beer does go well with burgers, the cocktail list spoke to me more and I ordered a Good Vibes which had Ford's Gin, Luxardo, Kombu Syrup, Cucumber, Lime, and Bubbles (Prosecco).  I liked it a lot, it tasted very fresh and green and was both sweet and tart.

For my burger, I went with the Maillard.  There are 7 burgers on the menu plus salad, soups, and 3 other sandwiches, including a veggie burger, but I decided to go with the standard served with Duck Fat Fries.  The Maillard came with two Grilled Burgers, Crispy Onions, Bacon and Onion Jam, Cheddar, Pickles, and Dijon Mayo.  It was very good.  The burger was juicy, the cheese was nice and gooey (and flavorful), the crispy onions added a nice crunch, and the bacon and onion jam and pickles added a flavorful finish.  Duck Fat Fries are always a win.  They were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and well salted.  While I was served ketchup on the side, it was unnecessary.

As this is a burger and milkshake place, I couldn't leave without having both.  As I already had a drink for while I was eating, I figured, it would work for dessert.  All of the Milkshakes start with Vanilla Ice Cream and Creme Anglaise (and garnished with a mint leaf), after that you can add Chocolate, Vanilla, Mixed Berries, Banana, or Maple.  You could also add a shot for an additional charge.  I will always go with chocolate first, so that's what I did.  I had had a few drinks before I got there, so I decided to lay off on making the milkshake boozy.  It was good in any case and was what I thought would be a nice finish.

I thought that the milkshake would be a nice finish, but it turned out to not quite be the case.  As I said, they have a pretty good tap list.  There was only one beer on the list that I had not tried.  When the bartender heard me asking someone dining next to me what she thought of it when I saw that she had ordered it, he poured me a sample.  All American Macro Brews are Lagers, so it could potentially be pretty boring.  This was very nice.  It has a clear amber color and some nice lacing, and a light bready flavor.  This turned out to be the nice finish to a nice stop at a good burger joint that I will have to return to.  

Vinsetta Garage, Berkley, MI

 

 

 

 

 

While I like to be knowledgeable about the restaurant scene in Chicago, when I travel, I also like to get an idea of the noteable places to eat and drink.  I went to a few places when I was in Southeastern Michigan that were pretty good.  I mentioned Zingerman's Deli, we then went to a few breweries in Ann Arbor (Arbor and Jolly Pumpkin), before traveling to Berkley to visit Vinsetta Garage.  Vinsetta Garage was originally the oldest garage east of the Mississippi, originally built in 1915, but converted to a restaurant, serving foods that the mechanics that worked in the garage would appreciate (pizza, pasta, burgers, etc.).  The building is still the garage complete with neon trim and garage doors and the space still retains equipment from its garage days including an old tune up machine.  The floor is cement with some tile (and pennies encased in resin in the bathroom).  The bar is curved and looks into the open kitchen and the ceiling is unfinished with large skylights and hanging lights to provide additional light.  To provide additional atmosphere, an antique dragster sits on a ledge above the entrance. 

For drinks, they have a full bar with a good beer list and some cocktails, but they also go the soda fountain route with some very good milkshakes and concretes (which could also work as dessert).  We started out with a Chocolate Milkshake and a New Belgium Hemperor HPA.  The shake was nice and thick with a lot of chocolate, and as I said, could have served as dessert.  The New Belgium Hemperor was a Hemp Pale Ale.  I had read about it and it sounded too weird not to try if I ever saw it.  It was on the menu at Vinsetta, so I tried it.  It was very dank.  The flavor was very pronounced.  Hops and Marijuana are related and I have had some beers that aimed for the skunky flavor of marijuana and got there generally, but this was like drinking a joint.  While I will say that I was glad I got to try it, it also won't be a regular thing for me.

For food, we started with Chili Verde, with Pork Shoulder, Tomatillo, Jalapeno, Sour Cream, and Corn Tortilla Chips.  It was really good.  It had a lot of flavor with some spice, tender pork shoulder, and crunchy corn tortilla chips to add some additional texture and to finish things off.

 

For our main courses, while I did try both things we ordered, we essentially ordered separately.  There was a Coney Island Pizza (Sir Shakes Coney Pie) with Hot Dogs, Housemade Coney Chili, White Onions. Cheese Blend, Aged Cheddar, and French's Mustard.  It was unusual, but it was really good.  I had a slice, but it wasn't mine.  What I had was the Union Mac and Cheese which won an award as the area's favorite Mac and Cheese.  It had Vermont Sharp Cheddar, Pinconning Colby, Penne Rigati, Parmesan, Bechamel, and a Crunchy Crust, served with Ham.  It was big, rich, and I took over half of it with me.  The crust seemed to be made of a combination of breadcrumbs and fried cheese.  It was crunchy and had the great flavor of fried cheese, which led to the cheese covered pasta which was cooked perfectly and had the perfect amount of ham. 

While this is where dessert would have come, we were too full for dessert.  In addition to the milkshakes, they had several very nice looking pies.  The place was a lot of fun, the food was really good, and I would be happy to return.

Chef's Burger Bistro

As I have said before, if you want a burger in Chicago, you have a lot of choices without having to resort to a chain fast food place.  You can get one at a diner like Eleven City Diner or a local fast food place like M Burger or Epic Burger, but many bars that serve food have a really good burger.  In fact, I would say that some of these, Kuma's Corner, The Bad Apple, and Burger Bar are among the best burgers in the city.  In addition to these examples, many fine dining restaurants like Naha or Vie also make some really good burgers.  To this list, I will add Chef's Burger Bistro, where I dined recently.  Located off of the Magnificent Mile, Chef's Burger Bistro is located at the same location as a former local burger chain location.  The space is long and narrow with a long bar at the front, between the restaurant and the patio and the kitchen in the back.  In addition to bar seating, there are large booths opposite the bar and some small tables dividing the two.  The space has a hardwood floor and a lot of black trim.  The unfinished ceiling was also painted black.  The space was loud and there were a couple of large flat screens on the walls, so the space almost had a sports bar feel to it (There were no team banners or flags, so the similarity ended with the TVs and the loudness of the space).  The chef at Chef's Burger Bistro has an impressive CV with experience at restaurants all over the world and author of 6 cookbooks.  He is one of 72 Certified Master Chef's in the United States and believes that cooking is an art.  Everything should be prepared with care and with quality ingredients.  In regard to the restaurant, this means that the meat is ground in-house every day and the bistro buns are made several times a day.  Everything on the menu is served a la carte, and while the burgers are the feature here, there are also finger foods, salads, and sandwiches on the menu.  As the only thing that I ate other than the burger was the fries, the only thing that I can say about these things are that they look good.  While I didn't eat anything other than the burger and fries, I did notice that they had a very nice looking milkshake list, so I decided I would also have a milkshake.  I ordered a Chocolate & Chocolate Shake.  It was served in a square Mason Jar mug (with a mug handle) and a straw.  I am not sure why it was called a Chocolate & Chocolate shake as it seemed to have a fairly uniform texture, but it was very thick, very chocolaty, and very good.  The shake arrived before my burger did so it was almost like having dessert before supper.

When my burger arrived, it was served on a large square plate alongside my Bistro Fries which were served in a modern looking serving glass.  It was red with a black rim which was wider at the top than the bottom and had an angled top.  The fries in it were very good.  They were well salted and could very well have been double fried as frites are.  They were crisp on the outside with a fluffy interior and I really enjoyed them.  The burger was fairly large (1/2 pound) and nice looking and pierced by a steak knife.  The burger that I ordered was called The Iberico because it was dressed in a Spanish style.  It was topped with Manchego Cheese, Serrano Ham, an Egg, and Garlic Aioli.  The bun was very fresh but it was very much like a fast food bun and not that exciting to me.  The burger and its accoutrements were very good.  I would say that their burgers fall between a bar burger and a burger at a fine dining restaurant.  The ingredients were high quality and tasted good.  The pairing and the presentation seemed like something that you might see at a fine dining restaurant.  While the burger was good and high quality, it doesn't beat my favorite bar burgers.  The place is definitely an option if I am in the area, but does not warrant a special trip.