Burger Bar

When a new trend begins, it's always followed by imitators. Some innovate on the trend, making it better. Some push boundaries, taking the trend in new directions. And some, in an attempt to capitalize on it come up way short and embarrass themselves. Burger Bar fits into the third category; embarrassing. Burger Bar began life as Urban Burger Bar but had to drop the "Urban" after a copyright dispute. Too bad, they should have simply closed and saved Chicagoans the misery. The woes began before even entering the restaurant. $7 valet in the Clybourn corridor, with street parking plentiful is insanity. The lone valet looked extremely bored and seemed to wonder what he was doing there. In due time, so would I. Burger Bar is a large space, split into a bar area with several high tables and a dining room with lots of found objects and light wood as decoration. Mostly empty which wasn't odd for a weeknight, the waiter was friendly but a bit unprofessional. He did take his time explaining some of the burgers which the menu left unclear. Upsides: cheap large beer selection featuring many local breweries and some of the "snacks" or Burger Bar lingo for appetizers. Fried pickle spears with a pinkish mayo-based sauce and house made chips covered in an almost too mild blue cheese sauce were addictive. Also Burger Bar is moderately priced. Downsides: pretty much everything else. The rest of the snacks (sweet potato tater tots, green bean fries) were limp and without taste, redeemed only by more mayo-based sauces. The burgers are simply terrible. They're charred, mushy and flavorless. One was cooked to medium rare as requested but somehow was dried out, yielding not even a drop of juice. Toppings are plentiful but unimaginative. A "special hot sauce" that could be added to a burger was almost entirely sriracha; it was slopped on top creating a huge mess and disintegrated the soft bun. Fries were under salted and limp. Milkshakes were thin and barely tasted of their advertised ingredients (a malted milk ball shake tasted more of vanilla than anything else and a peanut butter version was only slightly better). Overall, there's no reason to waste time with a pretender when so many restaurants (DMK Burger Bar, Kuma's Corner, The Counter, McDonald's) are much more enjoyable.

Cumin

An unassuming little Indian restaurant in Wicker Park that does the basics well. The decor is hip but comfortable. Bowls of spices fill the air with the unmistakable scent of Indian cuisine.The hostess and service is friendly, if a bit discombobulated. After a brief wait at the bar (the smallish space was full and bustling, even on a weeknight), a friendly waitress pointed out that in addition to the standards of Indian food, Cumin features a large amount of Nepalese dishes. Sadly, the goat will have to wait until next time. An appetizer of a samosa, chaat-like fried okra, and lamb kebab was delicious if simple. Then began the wait. At least 40 minutes passes before the entrees arrived, and it seemed like the wait was endemic; other tables were experiencing it as well. When the chicken tikka masala and vegetable biryani finally arrived, they were found to again be good examples of basic Indian food that non-Indians feel comfortable eating. One of the waiters even smiled knowingly as he set the plates down. Highlights were a naan filled with ground lamb and a spicy yogurt sauce to drizzle over the hot biryani, cutting the fire of the rice well. Overall, Cumin satisfies a craving for Indian staples should one be in Wicker Park.