Road Tips

Moon-Glo - Danville, IL

In doing some research for Gross' Burgers in Danville, IL (see my entry on Gross' Burgers here), I found out about another place in the Danville area that is high on the list of many of the locals for having a good burger, the Moon-Glo.  On a trip by Danville this past fall, I stopped in at the Moon-Glo to try one of their burgers.

The Moon-Glo is one of those old time supper clubs that you found on the outskirts of Midwestern towns in the 50's and 60's.  They feature cook-you-own steaks on the weekends, but they're famous around Danville for their big Moonburgers.   

Getting off Interstate 74 just after getting into Illinois from Indiana, I took a series of backroads south and east of Danville before I pulled up to the Moon-Glo at the corner of Perrysville Road and Markley Road complete with their distinctive blue crescent moon on top of the place. (see map)  It looked exactly like an old time supper club should - stone-base exterior, awnings over the windows and a big stone fireplace on the side of the building.

Inside the Moon-Glo, you'll find a bar to the left, some open grills (for the cook-your-own steaks) on the right and a number of tables with chairs in an L-shaped dining room.  A handful of men were situated around the dining area when I got in.  No one was seated at the bar, so I took a seat there.  There was a menu sitting on the bar, so I picked it up and took a quick glance at it.  Even though I was there for one of their burgers, I saw they had other sandwiches and appetizers through the day.  I understand their deep fried pickles are pretty good at the Moon-Glo.  

The server behind the bar came over to greet me.  She was also working as a server in the dining area, running back and forth with another younger girl between the kitchen and dining room.  She asked me what I wanted and I told her that I'd take a Moon-cheeseburger with a beer.  She asked if I wanted everything on it and I asked what everything was.  She said, "Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mustard, ketchup.  You know, pretty much everything."  After I told her I'd go with that she cheerfully replied,  "Comin' right up!" 

The kitchen at the Moon-Glo isn't all that large and there was a man back there helping out with the noon time orders.  It turned out the guy was the owner, Phil Adams.  A group of men came in and almost as soon as they sat down Phil Adams delivered a tray of burgers to the table and sat down to talk with them while they had lunch.  It turned out they had phoned in their orders before they got there - something that I found probably comes in handy.  

The Moonburgers are pretty big - at least 3/4's of a pound, maybe larger - and it takes a little while for them to cook.  Also, the grill is only so big and if they have a lot of orders for lunch - which the Moon-Glo did that day for both to-go and eat-in - then the orders get stacked up.  It took about 20 minutes for my burger to show up.  My server sat it in front of me, wrapped in wax paper.  When I opened it up, juice from the burger was already on the sheet.  

The burger was huge.  It featured a thick and fluffy bun crown with an ample amount of green lettuce leaves on the bottom.  Thick slices of fresh onions and and a tomato formed the bed for the burger.  Pickles, ketchup and mustard were on the top.  It was so big I had to cut the burger in half.  The meat was cooked through, but the burger was still pretty juicy.  

The first bite I had of a Moon-Glo burger was - well, have you ever taken the first bite of something you've never had before and gone "Mmmmmm...."?  That was exactly what happened with me.  The taste of the burger was outstanding.  I mean, it was just excellent.  Even though it was cooked medium to medium-well, it still had a lot of juiciness to the taste of the burger.  It had that flat-grilled taste to it where the grill has probably been seasoned from thousands of burgers cooked on it over the years, but it was hand-pattied and not spatula pressed to draw out some of the moisture in the meat.  It suddenly became one of my all-time favorite burgers, it was that good.

I'm glad I didn't get any fries or fried pickles to go along with the burger.  It was a full meal in itself.  I ate the last bit of the burger even though I was fairly full after finishing half.  The bun was a wonderful complement to the burger, once again backing up my opinion that the key to a great burger is the bun.  

After finishing up and paying at the bar, I got up to take a look around at some of the items they had on the walls around the dining room and to take some pictures.  It appeared that Phil Adams is a big Indiana Hoosiers basketball fan and continues to revere former coach Bobby Knight as there were pictures of Knight on the wall along with other Indiana basketball paraphernalia.  In taking pictures of the place, Phil Adams interrupted his round-table discussion with the men seated there and asked me where I was from.  I told him I was from the Quad Cities.  He asked if I was traveling through and I said that I was.  "Shwew," he said in mock relief.  "I thought with you takin' all those pictures that you were from the health department or a tax man!"  

I asked Phil how long he'd owned the place and he said, "My daddy bought it in 1962 and I took over for him about 20 years later.  We had everyone in our family workin' in here at one time or another."

One of the guys at the table asked him how long the place had been opened before his dad bought the place.  Phil said, "I think it's been around since the 40's.  The original owner, a guy by the name of Willett, was the guy my dad bought the place from."  

Phil explained that this Willett guy was sort of a notorious person in and around the Danville area.  "First of all, he was Dick Van Dyke's father-in-law. (The actor Dick Van Dyke grew up in Danville and married Marjorie Willett in 1948. They raised four children before divorcing in the early 80's.)  But this Willett also spent time in prison for killing a guy.  When he got out, he couldn't own a bar because he couldn't get a liquor license because he was a convicted felon.  So, he put everything into the name of the gal he was livin' with.  So, technically, my dad bought the place from her.  But he was the guy runnin' the place and callin' the shots."

Phil Adams turned to me and said, "Hey, have you gone in the bathroom yet?"  

I sort of quizzically looked at him and stammered out, "Uh, no..."

"Before you leave, you've got to go in there and look at our urinal.  Urinals.com called out urinal a Top Ten urinal.  You can look it up!  Go ahead, take a look at the urinal!"  He seemed so proud of the urinal that I had to go in and take a look at it.  

It was basically an old Kohler wash-down urinal with about three pounds of crushed ice in the bottom.  I guess I didn't see what was so special about the urinal, even wondering how it could be a Top Ten urinal.  After I got home, I was wondering if what Phil Adams was telling me was B.S., so I looked up Urinals.com.  It turns out that there is actually a site - Urinal.net - that showcases urinals of all sizes and styles from all over the world.  (Ya gotta love the Internet!)  They did have a Top Ten list of urinals, but the one at the Moon-Glo was not on the list.  That's not saying that it may have been at some point, but it wasn't on the Top Ten list when I looked it up.  But digging a little deeper on the website, sure enough, there was an entry on the urinal at the Moon-Glo.  (Click here if you want to see it.)  Phil Adams was telling me the he got the idea of putting crushed ice in the bottom of a urinal from some place out in Las Vegas - I believe it was at the TPC Las Vegas golf course, if I remember what he was telling me - a number of years ago.  "Since then, I put ice in the urinal three to five times a day," he told me.  I had to chuckle as Phil was certainly proud of that urinal.

The urinal aside, I have to say- barring two or three other burgers tasting better - that the Moon-Glo burger will easily make my Top Ten Burger List when I update it later this year.  The taste of the burger was outstanding and, if you go, make sure that you bring an appetite.  It was a huge burger and very filling.  But I found myself unable to stop eating as it was so good.  Phil Adams is a true character and while the Moon-Glo is showing some age, it's a fun place to go.  I may have to try the deep fried pickles at some point in the future.  

Gross' Burgers - Danville, IL

I regularly read a handful of blog sites similar to Road Tips for fun and to get ideas of places to visit that I may have not known about before.  I like to look through the blog sites of Iowa Foodie, Slackingfool, An Herbalist Eats, Des Loines, Chicago Barbecue King (a.k.a. "Smokin', Chokin' and Chowin' with the King"), Food Dude, and the irreverent Suits in Strange Places, a blog written by a group of traveling salesmen who search out the unusual and out of the way places to eat when they're on the road.  One blog that I look into from time to time is a site run by a young couple from the Quad Cities - Greasy Joints.  One place they visited earlier this year was a hamburger joint in Danville, IL - Gross' Burgers. (Click here to see their post.)  I was sort of taken by their description of the place and decided to stop in on my way to Indianapolis for the annual CEDIA Expo in early September.  However, it was Labor Day and Gross' was closed.  I had to wait to return another day.  On a trip out to Indianapolis recently, I made the stop at Gross' Burgers and this time they were open. 

Gross' Burgers has been around since 1982 when it opened as a place called Grunts.  A local young man who was in the United States Marine Corps, Brad Gross, was looking to do something when he got out of the service. He was brought up in the restaurant industry as Gross' father ran one of the first pizzerias in the area.  The opportunity to buy Grunts came up while Gross was still serving our country and he did just that.  When he got out of the Marines over 25 years ago, Gross changed the name to the not-too-enticing Gross' Burgers.  But Gross remembered how good the burgers were at Grunts and he would continue to carry on the tradition.  

Gross' Burgers is found off of Interstate 74 on Illinois Highway 1 (Georgetown Road) at Henderson Street in south Danville. (see map)  There's a parking lot in the back that holds a number of cars.  But make sure you don't park in the drive-thru lane that is on the north side of the building.  I was able to park up close to the building on the south side.  

Going into Gross' Burgers, you can immediately tell from the decor that Brad Gross continues to support America's military men and women.  American flags, military posters, military gear including old rifles and even a bazooka hung from the bright white walls.  A 24-hour military clock hung next to the menu.  Historical articles on military figures were framed on the wall along with pictures of local servicemen.  The tables had a metal top and the metal chairs were high-backed and had a padded seat.  It was like a spic and span military grade mess hall inside the place.  

The menu at Gross' Burgers is located above the front counter and they feature burgers, both with American cheese and without, as well as pizza burgers and mozzarella cheese burgers.  You can double down on the burgers with two patties.  Or if you want something different than burgers, Gross' Burgers also features a fish sandwich.  The only side they offer are their special garlic-seasoned Gross fries. (Small containers of garlic seasoning as well as a cajun seasoning are available on the tables.)  They also offer a handful of milkshakes along with the regular offerings of soft drinks.  Their special menu item is the American Special - a triple cheeseburger, an order of Gross fries and a 32 oz. drink for $7.00

The kitchen area is located just behind the front counter and it is just as clean as the dining room.  The flat grill is back in the corner with fryers toward the front.  The prep area for the burgers is directly behind the grill.  

I ordered a double cheeseburger with everything - which is onions, pickle and mustard.  I got a bottle of water with the burger.  I declined when asked about getting some Gross fries to go along with the burger. The price of the burger and water was under $5.00

The beef at Gross' Burgers is ground fresh everyday and fashioned into little balls that are probably 3 oz. each.  The burger balls are placed on the grill and immediately smashed down flat.  They're cooked in their juices giving them a crisp outer edge on the meat.  I still have a problem with how some places smash their burgers, but I'm starting to slowly come around to the taste.  I will say that the smashed burgers are usually crispy on the outer side, but keep the juices inside the meat.  

My number was called out and I got the burger at the counter.  The burger was placed in a styrofoam container and put into a plain white bag.  The burger meat was thin and crispy - it almost looked like it was burnt - and it splayed out from under the bun in all directions.  It reminded me somewhat of a Steak 'n' Shake burger.  

The bun was your regular run-of-the-mill commercial baked variety.  But it was light and somewhat fluffy.  A slice of American cheese was melted on the top of both patties of beef.  

Since ketchup is not included on the burgers after they're grilled, large bottles of ketchup are placed on the tables for the burgers and fries.  They are pretty generous with the ketchup, as well.  At left is a picture of the ketchup squeeze-bottle next to a 16 oz. bottle of water.  It was the largest squeeze-bottle of ketchup that I'd ever seen.  There had to be a quart of ketchup in the bottle.  

The burger, itself, was good.  I wasn't initially sure that I liked it all that much, but as I got into the core of the burger the taste got significantly better. The crispy outside of the burger patty yielded a juicy inner core.  Two patties equaled about one regular sized hamburger that you'd get most other places.  But because they were so flattened, there was a lot of meat that hung out over the bun masking how much meat was in each patty.  

The burger at Gross' Burgers was good - certainly above average.  I'd give it a B+ in taste and quality.  I'm still not sold on the thin, flat-pressed burgers.  But I can see where people in and around the Danville area have thought that Gross' Burgers are some of the best they've had.  It's certainly an acquired taste and one I wouldn't mind trying again at some point.  But in order to get more of that juicy, meaty taste, I may have to get a triple.