Smoking Harry's - Creston, IL

On my continued quest to find a great burger when I travel, I found a place in Creston, IL - a small town of about 550 people near Rockford (see map) - by the name of Smoking Harry's.  I was doing some on-line research and found that Smoking Harry's was named by WIFR-TV, a local television station, as having the best burgers in the greater Rockford area.  Given that it's about 15 to 20 miles from Rockford, it's sort of a stretch.  But I thought I'd stop in there for lunch recently. 

Harry Coleman (left) is the "Harry" in Smoking Harry's.  I thought that the place was possibly a barbecue place with the term "Smoking" in the name.  But I soon found out when I walked into the small restaurant/bar along Highway 38 that was far from the reason.  The real reason was wafting through the air.  Harry was sneaking drags off a cigarette behind the bar - a no-no in any public place in Illinois.  But this just didn't seem to be a public place.  It was like the Coleman's opened their first floor up, put in a small bar in the front living room and took one of their back rooms and put four tables into it.  And that's basically what happened.

Harry and his wife - both well into their 70's - bought the place in 1988.  Harry's wife, who was seated at the bar with an oxygen tank attached to her nose, told me that they lived upstairs.  "We actually have quite a bit of room up there," she told me.  Harry's son works the grill during the day and evening.  There was some argument between Harry and his wife as to when they open up for the day.  "We open up at 8:30 every day," Harry said.

His wife countered, "Oh, when have we ever opened up at 8:30?!  You may be down here at 8:30 having coffee, but the doors ain't open!"

I immediately liked them both. 

I was the only person in the place when I got there around 1:30.  I told Harry, "I understand you have a pretty good burger here."

He said, "They tell me that.  We won an award for our burger."  He pointed out the plaque and a copy of the article from the local paper proclaiming Smoking Harry's as having the best burger in Rockford. 

I said, "Well, let's try one.  I'll take one of your cheeseburgers with everything."  Everything is adding lettuce, tomato, pickles and onion.  Mustard and ketchup are available upon request.

While Harry's son worked the grill, I got to talking about Harry's signature 3/4 lb. burger with him.  "We worked on trying to find a good burger for 13 years," Harry said.  "We finally found one in 2001.  We had a food salesman come in here with a meat rep.  They dropped off a box of burgers.  Frozen burgers.  All our meat is frozen.  We don't have the room to keep fresh hamburger meat here." 

Harry told me the meat rep said to him, "I understand that you've been looking for a good burger.  Tell you what.  Try these and if you don't like 'em, don't pay for 'em.  If you like 'em then keep orderin' 'em up.  Well, we liked 'em - a lot.  And we kept orderin' 'em."

He said he finally found the burger that he wanted to sell, "but I wasn't happy with the buns we had."

I said, "I subscribe to the theory that the bun is what makes a great burger."

Harry said, "So do I!  So do I!  It wasn't until about a year and a half ago that we found a good bun."

He said that a food salesman who knew Harry was looking for a good bun came in with a few samples of one style.  It was a big bun, light and not very chewy.  It was made by an Italian bakery in the Western suburbs of Chicago.  Harry said, "It's expensive - about 50 cents a bun - but it don't fall apart like the other buns we used to get.  I don't like it when a bun falls apart."  

Harry said that as soon as they served up the first burger with the new bun, they new they had a winner.  He said, "And it helps that we still have the same flat top griddle that has been in here since well before we bought the place."  I agreed with him that the griddle can help enhance the taste of a good burger. 

The order was up and Harry brought out the burger.  It literally covered the whole basket he served it in.  It was big.  But I was hungry.  Harry sat back down at the end of the bar with his wife and continued to watch "The Beverly Hillbillies" on the small television near the kitchen.

From the first bite, I was definitely impressed with Smoking Harry's cheeseburger.  It was juicy and flavorful.  The bun was just excellent.  And it didn't fall apart just like Harry said it wouldn't.  It was huge - as I said 12 oz before cooking - but Harry said that the meat is so lean that it doesn't cook down very much on the grill.  Usually, lean burgers have a tendency to be somewhat dry.  This wasn't it was very good.  

As I finished, Harry's wife called down the bar to me.  "So, was it good?"  

I said, "It was damn good, ma'am.  It was very damn good.  I am impressed and pleasantly surprised."  

She said, "Well, good.  That's what we want to hear."  

Creston isn't that far off of I-88, just east of I-39.  I told Harry and his wife that I go into Chicago all the time and that I would be back.   And I will be - it was a damn good burger at Smoking Harry's.  Make no mistake, the place is a small town dive.  And Harry sneaks smokes when there's no one in the place.  (Hell, he probably smokes in there when he has familiar customers in the place.)  Even though I enjoy having places that are smoke free, I didn't mind it that much at Smoking Harry's.  The burger trumped the ambience and the tinge of tobacco smoke in the air.  It was very, very good.   

Comments

[jp]

One of you best reviews. I tried and agree...very,very good. I wish I knew what the brand is of FROZEN patties