I have a dealer out in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago and he and I were talking one day about our favorite burgers in the Chicago area. He then told me about a place that wasn't too far away from his store that he thought had a great burger, a place called The Assembly. "You haven't had a burger an Assembly burger," he asked me incredulously. Right then and there, I put The Assembly on my "Restaurants to Visit" list on Google Maps. Earlier this year, I finally had a chance to stop in and try one of their burgers.
The story behind The Assembly starts with Glenn Taylor, a long time CPA. However, his off-hours hobby was home-brewing beer. Along with his sons, Gary and Steve, and his wife, Amy, the Taylors were having fun with coming up with different types of beers in their basement.
Glenn Taylor was getting burned out on his accountant job and he certainly enjoyed brewing beers with his sons. He ended up chucking his CPA career in the early 90's and in 1994 the Taylor family opened up a brewpub - Taylor Brewing Company - in an old furniture factory in Naperville. By 1999, the Taylors had moved the brew pub to a new location along Butterfield Road in Lombard.
The man who Glenn Taylor worked for as a CPA had a side business that he had opened in 1978 - The Assembly American Bar and Cafe. If he wasn't enjoying brewing beer at home, Taylor liked to hang out at The Assembly with its fun atmosphere and regular clientele. In 1995, Taylor's old boss informed him that he was looking to retire and sell The Assembly. Glenn Taylor jumped at the chance and bought The Assembly later that year. After Taylor Brewing Company shut down in late 2011, Gary Taylor came over to The Assembly to run the day-to-day operations.
It was a cold and rainy spring day when I made it out to The Assembly which is located between W. Higgins Road and Interstate 90 along Barrington Road in Hoffman Estates. (see map) I pulled in just before noon and I took pause for a moment when I saw "Awesome Food Here" spelled out underneath The Assembly sign on the front of the building. I sort of cringed when I saw that thinking that they were trying too hard to lure in customers.
The inside of The Assembly was dimly lit, cozy and looked a little dated. There was a large rectangular bar in the middle of place with step-up booths on the outer side of the floor plan. There were a number of flat panel televisions that were hung throughout the restaurant. There was an appreciable number of people in the place when I got there and more came in through the noon hour. Many of the patrons seemed to be older men.
I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by Brenda who doubled as a bartender and grill cook. She gave me a menu and I ordered up a Sweetwater 420 extra pale ale that they had in cans. Her co-bartender that day was a spunky lady by the name of Denise. She was wearing a t-shirt that said on the back "I Hate Kale - I Like Burgers - Have a Burger".
The grill area for burgers was in between the bar counters. It featured a gas char-grill cooking surface and a flat cooking surface next to it. Opposite of the grill area was a condiment area where burgers were dressed. There was a kitchen for other items on the menu in the back of the restaurant.
The Assembly's gourmet burgers are their signature item on the menu. The burgers are all 10 ounce, never frozen beef patties that are blended with different cuts of beef to The Assembly's specification. Gary Taylor once said in on an on-line video that they serve over 1600 burgers a week and that loosely translated out to a total of over 2.5 million burgers in the 39 years The Assembly has been in business. Their Bionic Burger - topped with bacon, sautéed onions and a choice of Swiss, mozzarella or cheddar cheese - is also known as the Hulk Hogan Burger as the Hulkster himself named it "a bionic burger" after eating at The Assembly in the late 70's. It continues to be one of The Assembly's most popular burgers.
In addition to the Bionic Burger, The Assembly also has a Parmesan burger topped with garlic butter and Parmesan cheese, The Grand Champion that is topped with bacon, sautéed onions, grilled peppers, sautéed mushrooms and a choice of Swiss, mozzarella or cheddar cheese, and a Bloody Mary burger topped with bloody mary seasonings, tomatoes, pickles and finished with a green olive. They also had a burger that was topped with macaroni and cheese.
Their selection of gourmet burgers are the most prominent feature on the menu, but they also had a number of other items to choose from. The menu consisted of a number of pub-style appetizers, many of them deep-fried such as onion strings, mozzarella cheese triangles, fried pickles and mushrooms stuffed with a bread crumb mix of chopped bacon, celery, onion, and red and green peppers. They had five grilled chicken sandwiches, as well as entrees such as pork ribs, ribeye steaks, beef tenderloin filet medallions, and grilled tilapia. Corned beef reubens, as well as turkey reubens and turkey club sandwiches were also featured on the menu along with a variety of salads.
I ended up getting the mushroom and Swiss cheese burger. I asked Denise if I could get some bacon on the burger and she said it would be no problem. Creamy cole slaw came with the burger along with The Assembly's signature mushroom/onion sherry wine sauce. And I also got a choice of a potato side and it was a no-brainer for me to pick the tater tots. In fact, the tater tots come out about three or four minutes before the burger was placed in front of me.
The burger was thick, juicy and cooked to a perfect medium with a bit of pink in the middle. And when I mean it was juicy, well, it was a multi-napkin burger. The sautéed mushrooms were fresh and earthy, the bacon crisp and smoky, and the Swiss cheese was slathered on top of everything. The bun was soft, yet it held together very well with all the good gooeyness going on with the burger. The mushroom/onion sherry sauce was interesting - it was sort of thick and I suppose that you were supposed to put it on the burger. But I ended up dipping some of the tater tots into the sauce. And while the tater tots tasted good on their own, the mushroom/onion sherry wine sauce helped give them a savory taste.
I thought the burger at The Assembly was very good. It was thick, juicy and full of great flavor even without the sautéed mushrooms, bacon and Swiss cheese. The tater tots were a nice change of pace - especially outside of the states of Minnesota and North Dakota where tater tots are a potato staple. The cole slaw - honestly, I don't know if I even tried the cole slaw, I concentrated on the burger and the tater tots because they were so good. The interior of The Assembly appears to be a little dated, but it was still homey and comfortable in its feel. And the service I received sitting at the bar was very good. Overall, this was a very good place to get a very good burger.
Why don’t you mention the dealers name
Posted by: Ed | March 13, 2023 at 06:56 AM
I used to mention the dealers name, but I found that a couple didn't like it, or some would get upset when I'd mention that I took so-and-so out for dinner or lunch at a certain place. I had lots of dealers who were in competition with one another and I thought it would be best to not identify who they were.
Posted by: Road Tips | March 13, 2023 at 03:00 PM