Fancy Fast Food at DMK Burger Bar

Mary's Hamburgers, Andersonville, has held supreme as my go-to when nothing will work but a really juicy burger and a beer. Venturing out of the neighborhood, the boyfriend and I tried DMK Burger Bar. 

Entered the dimly lit restaurant and bar, roomy enough to walk with well-made wood furniture complimenting the neat, modern attitude, a calm hum and immediate service showed us to our table.
 The server repeatedly checked-in, explained the menu (a concept all it's own), while we made important decisions regarding beer and burgers.
The boyfriend ordered the #3 NY Pastrami style burger including sauerkraut, gruyere and remoulade sauce.  Me the #5 Bison burger (hell ya, bison!) with blueberry BBQ sauce, goat cheese and pickled red onions.  Split large sweet potato fries with spicy aioli.

Patties were far too thin for any real variation in temperature besides medium too medium well.
The stand out, not in a good way, was the dressing smeared on each burger equivalent to a careless McDonald's style smear that covers an awkward half section of the patty. Buns were thin, fresh and did the job. 

#3 was good, not memorable, good.  Time-tested flavors were balanced as expected.  All parts were well-made with decent flavor.  No surprises.

#5 was a let down (why bison why?).  Excellent concept, poor execution. Parts with goat cheese were overwhelmed and parts without it needed it. Cooks forgot to add the blueberry to the BBQ blueberry sauce apparently. Pickled red onion was scarce.

Best bites, crispy sweet potato fries.  Aioli had a kick, and large portion was truly large.

First Impressions

It is officially my third day in Chicago.  I know New York, I know San Francisco, but Chicago is different.  First impression, everything is so spread out.  Accomplishing any small errand requires a bus ride, a train ride or very comfy walking shoes at best.  On the bright side, getting to whatever far flung destination does involve passing various ethnic stores and restaurants that represent every continent, all within the same neighborhood.

The diversity of my tight-knit neighborhood, as well as that of the other neighborhoods I've explored, surprised me.  In New York you can find anything, but sometimes you have to go out of your way for it - sometimes you even have to go all the way to Queens. Not that I don't love going Greek in Astoria - but still.  In Andersonville, a neighborhood originally founded by Swedes, I just picked up some much loved Persian tea before checking out the Swedish grocery next store.  Just down the street you can find a soul food restaurant, an Irish pub, a Lebanese bakery and at least three different kinds of Asian food.

So maybe getting from neighborhood to neighborhood is a bit of a marathon, but with each neighborhood having such an interesting array of places to check out - I see why Chicago is the city of neighborhoods.