This Thursday! Join us for a free fun women’s wellness event at Daily Method Bucktown, a hot barre fitness spot for women. We are so excited to share this event as we as women often don’t focus on our future needs … Continue reading
Do you ever wonder where your McDonald’s cheeseburger meat came from? Unless you’re subjected to some kind of food coma induced nightmare, you probably have avoided being “in the know” on fast food meat origins. “But burgers are so delicious”, you say. Yeah we get you, (well the dabbling meat eater one of us, aka Kate, does and the veggie burger fiend one of us, aka Monica, may have an inkling too). Burgers, in all their glorious forms, are special sammiches. But as we are grown people, we like grown and sexy sammiches with ingredients we can name…and we LOVE food that’s locally sourced and not only tastes fresh but is fresh.
Recently, we visited the South Loop to try a locally owned burger slinging business, Burger Point (with no creepy clowns, bonus!). Owners, co-founders and couple, Asha Mathew and David Esterline, pride themselves in providing consumers with grass fed beef as well as organic chicken, turkey and veggie burgers. Asha and David started Burger Point about 3 years ago and used to gaze at the space across from their condo and dream of opening their own business. They often craved a juicy organic burger a ala North side DMK burger so they snatched up the corner spot on State and Archer and started their own burger revolution. Local sourcing is their priority and many produce items come from David’s produce shop. 95% of the menu is house made. Meat is ground, formed into fresh patties in the restaurant and meals are made to order (take that, Burger King!)
The menu hosts 17 specialty burgers, wangs (or wings as some might call them) with house made sassy sauces, and side options like house cut sweet potato fries. We started our culinary experience with hearty samples of the vegetarian chili. A toasty bowl of chili is definitely the thing for a Chicago arctic winter. It had a healthy amount of cooked “just right” beans, a perfectly thick consistency and a nice kick of spice. We liked the bits of tofu floating around in the mix as it added to the filling nature of the chili. This dish could make your meal and Burger Point gives you free toppings like cheese, sour cream, olives and onions to boost it’s fill factor.
For the main event, Kate got a little meaty and tried the #7 hamburger, called the Dirty South, with aged cheddar cheese, double smoked crisp bacon and BBQ sauce on a homemade pretzel roll. The flavor of the bacon and burger was juicy, not greasy, and Kate noticed a markedly higher meat quality than chain restaurants. Kate’s fave part was the PRETZEL BUN!! “I know me and gluten are iffy but this was a homemade pretzel bun”
Monica tried the #14 with the moniker the Best Damn Veggie Burger Ever, which sports a homemade veggie patty with chipotle aioli, havarti cheese and avocado on a sesame seed bun. She liked the balance of beans and rice, simplicity combined, but needed more kick from the chipotle aioli to counterbalance.
Becoming a Burger Point Superfan can have perks. Customers can use the delivery ease of Grubhub or Ordersnap to ensure no leaving of one’s bed is necessary, crumbs be damned. If you do choose to wear pants and leave the house, Burger Point is located on the quiet corner of Archer and State. Frequent Feeders can join a rewards endeavor called the 5 Star Program. Every $5 spent gives the user a point which can eventually lead to free point earned foods. One customer even racked up so many points that there is a burger named after him, the #17 Saigon Johnny, featuring fresh ground chicken, sliced cucumber, jalapeno and cilantro with sriracha aioli and soy sauce. The couple and their manager, Ryan, like to let their minds run wild with new monthly recipes. Their salmon burger is very popular for the Lenten season and now they are working on the aptly named Heart Attack consist of 5 different types of bacons. We are guessing it features pork, beef, turkey, chicken and tempeh bacon (haha we actually have no idea. Is there such a thing as chicken bacon? Chicky bake for short?)
The South Loop neighborhood is close to popular Chicago locales like Soldier Field, the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium in addition to public transportation making it an accessible choice for tourists and locals alike. If you want a relatively quick and tasty meal that doesn’t challenge your moral meat values, leave those golden arches behind and taste Burger Point!
Oh winter…devilishly evil Chicago winter. You haven’t been able to keep us down…especially with all these events and restaurant openings popping up. What about you, dear readers? Have you wound your scarf around you and strapped those snow boots on to take the chill out of winter? Here are some spots that may make you wanna brave the great white Midwest.
Remember that ol’ Lasalle Power company dance club you used to troll to pick up your future v-day date? Well now it’s been converted into a brand new Gino’s East. Chicago’s legendary pizza spot just got classy at its River North location. Three floors of expansive rustic cozy hangout space will eliminate your wait with your out of town guests as you get your “mangia” on with artichoke pizza, pickle-y sliders and fat stuffed cheese sticks with spinach. The restaurant proclaims to be including a brewery opening in several months as well…just in time for Spring!!
Our next pick is a neighbor to the north, Pizzeria Serio, a hidden addition to the food scene on Belmont avenue in Lakeview. WGN’s Chicago Best honored Pizzeria Serio as one of Chicago’s fave pizza. Check out the video here. We hopped over snow mounds to meet with the Chicago Food Bloggers and Pizzeria Serio was gracious enough to host our group. We sampled several tasty starters like a Spinach Salad (baby spinach leaves, red onion, mandarin oranges, goat cheese and walnuts in homemade citrus dressing) and the more traditional Caprese. For veggie lovers and goat cheese lovers (eww says one of us..the goat cheese hater) try the spinach specialty pizza (EVOO, sea salt, black pepper, fresh garlic, tomatoes, spinach, ricotta and goat cheese sans sauce). For the more purist pizza crowd, try the wood burned crusty Eat Your Veggies (onions, green peppers, mushrooms and black olives) and get your 5 a day veg serving…a good excuse to eat mas pizza if we do say so…and we do.
In a whole other country (this is what it feels like to Chicago residents) is Farmhouse in Evanston. This tavern makes their own burgers, condiments and soda from scratch with ingredients plucked straight from Midwestern farms. Even their beverage selection is pulled only from Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan. The majority of interior pieces are reclaimed woods and salvaged materials. At the kick off to North Shore Restaurant month, going on now, we gobbled down hot beer battered Wisconsin cheese curds with crispy warm centers and fresh Tavern-cut peppery potato chips with homemade ranch-like dipping sauce. On demand for our next visit is the Old World Grains Burger with Forest Mushroom and Poblano Pepper. For those of you who don’t venture that far out of our city, there’s also a sister location in River North with a slightly different menu and a two floor space. Don’t all these pics of yummy food make you wanna trek through your alley to the El?
Monica says:
What a weekend! Instead of doing the same old St. Patty’s day crawl, we decided to take care of our health and attend the Good Food Festival at the UIC Forum. It’s all about Chicago foods, local farmers, composting and environmental friendly practices, organic treats and lots of awesome tastings! These included Chi area tomato sauces, hot sauces, greens, cheeses and milk, and chocolates (Kate gave up chocolate for lent so she seemed a little tortured as I enjoyed my tastings :p).
Here’s a few of our favorite vendors out of over 150 vendors.
Traders Point Creamery, a family-owned organic dairy farm in Zionsville, Indiana used grassfed cows to produce a creamy strained yogurt that tasted so light and fresh! They offer original and honey greek yogurt as well as probiotic drinks, (Raspberry and Banana Mango were featured), BGH free milk and creamy cheeses.
Kombucha! NessAlla
Kate: Monica and I loved the girls at NessAlla. Both knowledgeable and friendly, their Kombucha came in original flavors like Lemongrass Ginger and the seasonal Red Clover. They also sell kits to make your own Kombucha.
And lastly, our all-time favorite product was Phoenix Bean a Chicago based company that produces beyond yummy tofu products. This was our second time sampling and we had to buy the spicy mango tofu. It has great texture and delicious flavors of cilantro, chili, garlic and more. You can pop them right in your mouth or add them to quinoa, spinach or other greens for a meal.
Our stomachs were full and happy when we left. It’s definitely one of those yearly events that we will make sure to attend and we were told by staff that they are sure to expand next year.
Chi Organic Girls 