I have been wanting to get to Edzo's Burger Shop in Evanston for a long, long time. Since they opened in 2009, Edzo's has been getting nothing but raves for their burgers. I was in Evanston recently calling on a dealer there and I made the time to stop into Edzo's for lunch.
The driving force behind Edzo's is Eddie "Edzo" Lakin. The path Lakin has taken to get to Edzo's has been one with a number of twists and turns along the way. The Chicago area native started out as a political science major at the University of Illinois and started to work at a record store after graduation. Seeing no future in selling records and CD's, Lakin decided to go to culinary school. He enrolled at the Cooking and Hospitality Institute of Chicago - part of the Le Cordon Bleu umbrella of culinary schools - and immediately found his calling in life.
Pictured right - Eddie "Edzo" Lakin (Photo courtesy Chicago Reader.)
After graduating from culinary school, Lakin started to work at a fine dining restaurant in downtown Chicago. He ended up going to Europe with some friends on an extended vacation and fell in love with Barcelona. Lakin would make authentic Catalan meals for lunch, then would go nap on the beach each day, then party at night.
Lakin ended up back in Chicago and started to work at the upscale Tru restaurant, working under famed chef Rick Tramonto. Like most young chefs trying to find the perfect fit, Lakin worked at a handful of restaurants in the Chicago area before going to work as a general manager for the restaurant group that runs the Sopraffina Cafe's in the downtown area of Chicago. That job lasted until Lakin was laid off from his position in the fall of 2008.
Deciding to take some time off from the restaurant business, Lakin stayed at home for a few months to hang with his two young children while he contemplated his next move. Lakin started a blog that shared his thoughts of restaurants that he had visited in the Chicago area (sort of like Road Tips!).
The economy had gone south and he knew that being a corporate chef would be a tough proposition. Lakin didn't really want to run his own restaurant, but he knew he would have to in order to make any amount of money to raise a family. Inspired by the burger joints that Lakin's father would take him to as a young boy, along with inspiration from Doug Sohn, the man behind the recently closed Hot Doug's, and Lakin's fascination with Five Guys burgers, he came up with the concept of Edzo's.
Through the process of getting his new restaurant concept up and going, he authored a second blog - Chicagomatic - that detailed each step along the way to open his new place. He opened Edzo's in downtown Evanston near the Northwestern University campus in October of 2009.
Starting out, Edzo's was only open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. Lakin wanted to have a life outside of his restaurant with his family and he knew that if he had longer hours he'd have to sacrifice quality time with his two young children. The short hours didn't matter to the throngs who came to Edzo's - sometimes with the lines snaking out the door. Edzo's Burger Shop was a hit.
In 2012, Lakin decided to open up a second location in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Chicago. The business had grown to a point where Lakin employed two managers at both locations, all four with a culinary school background. With that, he was able to extend his hours at both locations - open until 10 p.m. six days a week at the Evanston Edzo's, to 8 p.m. three days a week (Sun/Tues/Wed) and open until midnight on Thursday through Saturday at the Lincoln Park location. (Edzo's both locations are closed on Monday.)
It was around 1:30 when I got into Edzo's in Evanston. I was able to find parking on the street just down the way from the little restaurant on Sherman, right where it branches off to Orrington St. (see map) Edzo's isn't huge - it maybe seats 50 people - and it was past the noon/lunch rush so I pretty much had my pick of any table. (Note - Edzo's asks that patrons do not "table sit" while someone else in their party is standing in line to place an order. And they're militant about it. That's only fair, in my book.)
The open kitchen allows those in line to see the line cooks putting the burgers on the grill and prepping other foods that Edzo's offers. Edzo's offers both 4 ounce flat-grilled and 8 ounce char-grilled burgers, the best of both worlds for burger aficionados. The beef is ground fresh each morning and on a good day Edzo's will go through over 100 pounds of beef.
The menu is located on the wall as you come into the place. In addition to the flat-grilled and char-grilled burgers, Edzo's features a variety of hot dogs, brats and sausages, a grilled chicken sandwich, healthy choices such as a veggie burger, a turkey burger and a portobello mushroom burger, and something Edzo's calls the "PB & B" burger - it's peanut butter and bacon.
As a burger upgrade, Edzo's also features naturally grown grass fed beef from such places as Slagel Family Farm outside of Geneva, Illinois, Rain Crow Ranch in Southern Missouri, and CDK Angus Ranch in Northwest Illinois. In the summertime, Edzo's will procure fresh produce from Green City Market - a seasonal farmer's market in the heart of Chicago - and you may find toppings that will include peas or squash. Lakin allows his managers to spread their culinary wings from time to time coming up with eclectic burgers, just to keep things from getting stale in the kitchen.
But what a lot of people remember Edzo's for is their variety of fries. They're painstakingly prepped and double-fried before they add any number of seasonings to the fries - or serve them plain. Cheese fries features Merkts cheddar cheese, they have garlic fries topped with a garlic/parsley butter, the "Taylor Street" fries are topped with a beef au jus gravy, giardiniera and sweet peppers, and truffle fries topped with truffle salt and parmesan cheese.
Edzo's also has their "Angry Fries" where they use four kinds of spicy seasonings, and their "Buffalo Fries" topped with a Buffalo hot sauce, blue cheese and served with celery. But they seem to be most famous for their lobster fries - they toss cooked fries in drawn butter and Maine lobster meat, then drizzle a lemon-saffron aioli on top of that, then finish it with chopped chives and - for good measure - more lobster meat. I understand that the lobster fries are a hit-and-miss item on the menu.
I was interested in getting a burger only on this visit. (I almost got the garlic fries, but I had more appointments later in the day and I didn't want to offend anyone with my breath.) I ended up ordering a double flat-grilled burger with everything - ketchup, yellow mustard, onion and pickle. They have five different types of cheese to choose from - I ordered pepper jack cheese. Additional toppings include jalapenos, garlic butter, spicy giardiniera, and a fried egg. I added bacon and sauteed mushrooms to my burger. They don't serve alcohol at Edzo's, but they do have high-end milkshakes and malts on the menu. Since I couldn't get a beer, I ended up getting a water from the fountain.
I found a seat up toward the front and they called my name when my burger was ready. The burger was served on wax paper on a small plate. The bun crown stood high above the double burger patties with melted pepper jack cheese oozing out from underneath. The bacon was criss-crossed under the patties and bits of sauteed mushrooms peeked out from the bottom.
The first bite was one of those where I went, "Mmmmmm...." It was a wonderful burger. The meat was a little crisp on the outside from the flat grill, but the juices inside were still there. The bun was a great compliment to the taste of the burger - a good burger has to have a good bun. The bun was lightly toasted and held together very well with the juicy burger. With the pepper jack cheese, the sauteed mushrooms and the crisp bacon, this was an outstanding burger.
Don't walk - run to the nearest Edzo's Burger Shop. This was one of the finest burgers I've ever eaten. I can't believe it took me 5 years to finally make it to Edzo's. I can't wait to get back at some point - when I don't have any appointments left - to get a burger and the garlic fries. I liked the atmosphere and the attitude of Edzo's, and even though they don't serve beer this was a place that I immediately fell in love with. It was simply a killer burger.
Comments