{"id":683054,"date":"2026-03-26T11:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/683054\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T11:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T11:52:11","slug":"where-to-go-for-thick-burgers-and-walk-in-dining-chicago-magazine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/683054\/","title":{"rendered":"Where to Go for Thick Burgers and Walk-In Dining \u2013 Chicago Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"667\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/C202303-T-Ask-the-Dining-Editor-illustration.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of a woman a a table holding a knife and fork\" class=\"wp-image-58385\"  \/>Illustration: Greg Clarke<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\">I\u2019m tired of smashburgers. Where can I get a thick, upscale burger?<\/p>\n<p>While I love a good smashburger, I\u2019m thrilled that I\u2019ve been seeing other options on menus lately. At Le Mistral, the French onion burger au jus is fun\u2009\u2014\u2009it\u2019s dressed with Gruy\u00e8re, pickles, and au poivre a\u00efoli, with jus on the side for dunking. I also dig Bistro Monadnock\u2019s burger, a steak patty spread with butter, red onion relish, and Dijonnaise and extra cheesy with Gruy\u00e8re and Comt\u00e9. My favorite is Cellar Door Provisions\u2019 offering, with a\u00efoli, caramelized onions, and bread-and-butter pickles and served on a poppy seed bun. It\u2019s a little simpler, which allows the flavor of the beef to shine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"question\">What are three top spots where you can walk in without a wait?<\/p>\n<p>Day of the week, time, and weather all factor in, but I\u2019ve had luck at Shaw\u2019s Crab House, Lilac Tiger, and Bistro Monadnock (see above). I\u2019ve scored bar seats for two at all three, no problem, and had excellent full-menu dinners.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Email Amy at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagomag.com\/chicago-magazine\/april-2026\/where-to-go-for-thick-burgers-and-walk-in-dining\/mailto:acavanaugh@chicagomag.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">acavanaugh@chicagomag.com<\/a> with your burning dining questions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illustration: Greg Clarke I\u2019m tired of smashburgers. Where can I get a thick, upscale burger? While I love&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":683055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[286933,286937,17925,117721,960,286936,5386,1818,146612,286939,286935,286938,286934],"class_list":["post-683054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-ask-the-dining-editor","tag-bistro-monadnock","tag-burgers","tag-cellar-door-provisions","tag-chicago","tag-french-onion-burger-au-jus","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-le-mistral","tag-lilac-tiger","tag-no-wait-spots","tag-shaws-crab-house","tag-upscale-burgers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116295339684280883","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=683054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/683054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/683055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=683054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=683054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=683054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}