Longman & Eagle

Though the main attraction of Longman & Eagle is definitely the finely crafted whiskey cocktails, their burger is a force to be reckoned with. I had not visited Longman & Eagle intending to order a burger, but I knew I had to get some food in me after a couple absinthe-infused cocktails had me feeling very warm and very light.

I wasn’t feeling particularly sophisticated, so I passed on the artisanal cheeses and warm salad of foraged mushrooms. Toward the bottom of the menu, I saw some of the most beautiful poetry: “Slagel Family Farms Burger, Aged Widmer's Cheddar, North Country Bacon, Brioche, Beef Fat Fries.” That’s right, the burger comes standard with bacon and cheese. This is both a bold and flawless choice. And let’s not discount the beef fat fries. This sounds like a meal fashioned with lots of tender love and care.

At $12, I would consider this meal to be quite reasonable. I like when a restaurant decides for me how I want my burger—bacon and cheese on a brioche bun. There’s no $1.25 extra for bacon and 7 cheeses to choose from. Longman & Eagle is confident that their’s is a winning combination, and it most definitely is.

Let’s get to the burger. The brioche bun is the perfect choice for this formidably sized and extra juicy bacon-topped burger. It holds up really well and doesn’t get soaked with deliciousness. As you can see, there is no shortage of bacon on this burger. Each burger comes with about three thickly sliced pieces of juicy, crispy bacon. The burger itself is thick, well-seasoned and appropriately juicy. When I asked for my burger cooked “medium,” medium is how it was served. Prepare to be (justifiably) passive-aggressively mocked if you make the amateur mistake of ordering this burger “well done,” as I heard the chef snidely yell out to the cooks, “One burger, WELL-DONE.” The beef fat fries were every bit as tasty as I expected- they were pristinely hand-cut, with a crispy exterior, and salted to perfection. 

I don’t know if it was the absinthe, the speed with which I drank my cocktails or the sheer deliciousness of the burger, but this meal had a serious effect on me. I talked about it the whole way home, and haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

Coming to Longman & Eagle is an experience. I highly recommend drinking and dining at the bar, because half of the fun of coming here is watching the mustached, lumberjack bartenders use eyedroppers and bizarre measuring techniques to make you one of the best cocktails in Chicago. Despite the funny quip about the well-done burger we overheard in the kitchen, this bar is very approachable. The staff is funny, attentive and nice. If you ask for a cocktail recommendation based on your fondness of Jack and Cokes, they’ll know exactly what to make you, and they’re excited to introduce a new cocktail or a new whiskey variety to you.

Come for the Old Fashioned, but stay for the burger.

Burger:  A

Value:  B+

Overall:  A

The Slagel Family Farms burger at Longman & Eagle

2657 N Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

http://www.longmanandeagle.com/