I have a dealer in the Oak Brook area in the western suburbs of Chicago and after I finished with our meeting and got ready to head back home to the Quad Cities, I decided to stop for lunch. Not far from my dealer is a place that I've wanted to try for awhile - the Labriola Bakery Cafe. I'd read that this place had a pretty good burger and I thought I'd give it a try.
Rich Labriola grew up in south suburban Blue Island, the son of owners of a south side pizza joint. He was exposed to artisan breads at a young age and he was immediately hooked. French breads, Italian breads, even German breads - Rich didn't know how to bake, but he wanted to learn how to make those artisanal breads he was so fond of.
He studied under experts of the art of baking European-style breads, all the time learning things along the way to put his own signature on his breads. Rich learned that adding an extra step or an extra minute to the baking process set his breads apart from other artisan breads.
Labriola ended up opening his own bakery - Labriola Baking Company - in 1993. He brought in specially designed Italian ovens, aged his own flour, and used only the finest and freshest ingredients in the baking process. His first customer was the Chicago location of Spago, the upscale Italian restaurant owned by Wolfgang Puck. Business grew precipitously for Labriola and he was soon supplying his breads to over 700 restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Pictured right - Rich Labriola (Photo courtesy Crain's Chicago Business)
Labriola sold his namesake bakery in 2013 four years after he launched his first restaurant in Oak Brook. He opened his second restaurant - a larger one along N. Michigan Ave. in downtown Chicago - in January of this year. Labriola is slated to open a pizza-centric concept restaurant - Pizza Bar - in Oak Brook sometime this month with the help of Chris Macchia, the chef and former owner of Coco Pazzo and The Florentine restaurants. The two are also looking at opening a downtown Chicago Pizza Bar location sometime in 2016.
The Labriola Cafe location in Oak Brook sits in the Oak Brook Promenade along Butterfield Road, just north of I-88/East-West Tollway. (see map) The shopping/restaurant complex is very popular and parking can be a bit of a hassle at times. But I was able to find a spot not far from the Labriola Bakery Cafe when I got there around 1:30 that particular day.
As you come into Labriola Bakery Cafe, you'll find a large case with fresh baked breads, desserts and pastries. It was hard not to linger around the case seeing what they had to offer.
On the other side of the area after you enter is the main cafe part of the place. The menus are located on flat screen televisions above and behind the counter. You place your order at the counter, they give you a number on a table top stand and you go find a seat in the dining area.
There's more than just burgers at the Labriola Bakery Cafe. They're known for their Neapolitan pizzas, as well as sandwiches - hot and cold, pasta dishes and rotisserie chicken. Entrees include a skirt steak dish, chicken parmesan and a pan-seared salmon filet served topped with bruschetta and served on a bed of sautéed spinach.
I'm somewhat of a fan of Kevin Pang, a food, entertainment and pop-culture writer for the Chicago Tribune. He used to host a video blog - The Cheeseburger Show - for a few years where he gave great recommendations for burgers in and around the Chicago area. He once wrote that the Richie Burger at Labriola Bakery Cafe was one of the best in Chicagoland. And that's what I ordered along with a bottle of Warsteiner beer.
The Richie Burger consists of an 8 ounce ground Black Angus beef patty topped with white cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato. Applewood smoked bacon was an option and I got that, as well. The burger is served on a large pretzel bun. They also have another signature burger at Labriola Bakery Cafe - the Maytag Blue Cheese burger that has, of course, Maytag Blue Cheese, smoked bacon and caramelized onions. Kevin Pang likes that one, as well.
Some pretzel buns can be sort of hard and somewhat dry. That was not the case with this pretzel bun on the Richie Burger. The crown had a nice crusty crunch on the outside of the bun, but was light, airy and spongy on the inside. I'm still a big believer that a great bun makes a great burger. But the the beef patty smothered in the white cheddar cheese was also a delicious component to the Richie Burger. Cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle, the burger was juicy and very flavorful, especially with the white cheddar cheese. The smoked bacon was a nice complement, the lettuce was fresh and crisp - not limp at all, and the tomato slice was very red and very fresh. Much more fresh than what I would have expected for a tomato that early in the season.
I've gotten a lot of great ideas for burger places to try in the Chicago area from Kevin Pang over the years and he didn't steer me wrong on the burger at the Labriola Bakery Cafe. It was a little expensive - nearing $14 with the bacon - but the taste and quality of the bun and beef shined above all else. Labriola Bakery Cafe is a comfortable place for a nice lunch when you're in the Oak Brook area for shopping. Simply put, the Richie Burger was outstanding.
Comments