The Juicy Lucy!

In most ways, i feel the move from St. Paul to Chicago was an upgrade, foodwise. There are a couple of exceptions to this, i.e. fresh fried walleye pike sandwiches, real cheese curds, lutefisk(just kidding) and of course the juicy lucy. This burger is a dive bar staple, and consists of two patties stuffed with american cheese(monterey Jack depending on bar) and the cajun option which contained pepper jack.(probably pepper american, for consistancy, obviously) Has anyone seen these monstrosities in the chicagoland area? I make them at home, but just don't like the skillet smoke, and generally would rather just go eat one somewhere else. If anyone is familiar with the twin cities area, the variations found at the nook or bb dixons(now the groveland tap) matts bar has a good one, but wrong side of the river.

I haven't seen them served anywhere in town, but there was just a full article and recipe in the latest Cooks Country.

Mitch Cumstein wrote:If anyone is familiar with the twin cities area, the variations found at the nook or bb dixons(now the groveland tap) matts bar has a good one, but wrong side of the river.

Mitch,

The Juicy Lucy sounds quite a bit like the Big Baby, a "Chicago burger style from the SW Side" which ReneG has chronicled in detail.

As an aside, I'd trade Chicago's Big Baby Burger for fresh fried walleye pike sandwiches in a heartbeat.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:The Juicy Lucy sounds quite a bit like the Big Baby, a "Chicago burger style from the SW Side" which ReneG has chronicled in detail.

Actually not. The Jucy Lucy has the cheese embedded on the inside of the burger. When you bite in, the cheese "erupts". Hence the name Jucy Lucy.

This reminds me a poem from my overly literate childhood that we would chant loudly and often:

Lucy met the train
The train met Lucy
The tracks were juicy
The juice was Lucy

-ramon

There's a whole chapter about the Juicy Lucy in John T. Edge's Hamburgers and Fries: An American Story - it's been a while since I read it, but I seem to remember that it is definitely specific to Minneapolis. Still, there might be one to be found in Chicago, although I've certainly never seen one on a Chicago menu.

Not exactly the same as the Juicy Lucy, but Café Bolero on N. Western Ave. (much reported on here) has the “Bolero Special.” This is a hamburger stuffed with your choice of cheese and chopped jalapeños (or other ingredients). It is a favorite of mine (along with their excellent fries – but lately the fries seem not quite as crispy as in the past). However, the cheese is not sandwiched in the middle of two patties resulting in the afore-mentioned explosion of cheese. A hamburger is not what one would usually consider ordering at a Cuban place – but I love it (about once every month or two to be exact), and everyone I have recommended it to has reported being pleased.

Hackney's does an "inside out burger" which is a burger stuffed with cheddar and bacon. Pretty damn good.

Just for the record, and for whatever it's worth, the correct Twin Cities' spelling is Jucy Lucy.

Dad and I checked out Matt's Bar, one of three joints up that way who claim to be the originator of the Jucy Lucy. We were advised by our waitress upon receiving our sandwiches to wait a full minute before biting into them as the molten cheese would cause severe burns comparable to the results from a cup of McDonald's coffee with a loose lid held between your thighs in a moving car. Good advice.

The burger was very good as were the institutional grade shoestring fries. The atmosphere is classic '50s dark bar with little in the way of creature comforts. We loved it.

More discussion and further enlightenment on this localized delicacy can be found here:

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=13168

We just returned from another trip to Mpls/StP and had intended to check out either 5-8 Club or The Nook, but Dad unexpectedly came down with a full blown case of the shingles, curtailing our trip and our culinary excursions.

Maybe next time.

Buddy

The 5-8 Club's rendition is quite delicious, and I was also very pleased by their garlic cheeseburger. Prices are cheap, neighborhood joint, but also a stone's throw from the airport.

Initially forgot to include the details:

The 5-8 Club Tavern & Grill
5800 Cedar Ave. South
Minneapolis, MN 55417
Phone: 612-823-5858

No leads on the burger, but cheese curds are readily available (and almost unavoidable) just a short hop over the border. They are Wisconsin staples. Mars Cheese Castle is a good place to score cheese curds.

BuddyRoadhouse wrote: We were advised by our waitress upon receiving our sandwiches to wait a full minute before biting into them as the molten cheese would cause severe burns comparable to the results from a cup of McDonald's coffee with a loose lid held between your thighs in a moving car.

It was a parked car and she was the passenger. The coffee was so hot it actually deformed the cup when she took the lid off to put in her cream and sugar.

http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1107089

http://www.hurt911.org/mcdonalds.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A429950

http://www.caoc.com/CA/index.cfm?event= ... e&pg=facts

Um...okaaay....

Buddy

Cynthia wrote:No leads on the burger, but cheese curds are readily available (and almost unavoidable) just a short hop over the border. They are Wisconsin staples. Mars Cheese Castle is a good place to score cheese curds.

As a former Twin Cityite myself, I can safely say that in the 12 years I've lived in Chicago there is nothing even close to the luscious salty morsels that are the MN State-Fair-Variety deep-fried cheese curds - my favorite happen to be sold at the small stand on south side of Dan Patch Ave on the main drag of the Minnesota State fairgrounds - near the big corn roast booth. Now - if Mars Cheese Castle would be kind enough to batter and deep fry them I'd be stopping there every week for a basket of salty-goodness.

However, I gotta say that I've never heard of a jucy lucy until this post (and I grew up in Saint Paul...Como Park area). But man, I can't think of anything better than a burger with "molten cheese" in the middle. I can't believe I missed this growing up!

Culver's sells deep-fried cheese curds; I don't know how they compare to the State Fair variety, but I approve of them. Their store locator is here:

http://culvers.know-where.com/culvers/

There's a booth at the Hyde Park farmer's market (Thursdays 7-2ish in Harper Court just north of 53rd street) that sells decent cheese curds from Wisconsin. Disclaimer: I haven't had any yet this summer.

I quite like the garlic-dill flavor. As with all cheese curds, they're best eaten after they've warmed a bit from fridge temperature. Otherwise, the mild flavor and the soft squeaky texture get lost.

i'm pretty sure we all have seen the cheese curds you can buy at stanley's and cheese markets and the like. I guess i should have specified. I'm talking beer battered deep fried nuggets of cheddar with NO Breading. the only ones i've seen in chicago have been frozen and breaded. A true crime.

Mitch Cumstein wrote:I'm talking beer battered deep fried nuggets of cheddar with NO Breading.

How is this possible?

stevez wrote:

Mitch Cumstein wrote:I'm talking beer battered deep fried nuggets of cheddar with NO Breading.

How is this possible?

MC, maybe you mean no bread crumbs in the batter?

yes, the soda and flour make a "breading" i should have specified. the littly grainy when fried bread crumbs that are often applied in lieu of the wet batter. my mistake.

Mitch Cumstein wrote:i'm pretty sure we all have seen the cheese curds you can buy at stanley's and cheese markets and the like. I guess i should have specified. I'm talking beer battered deep fried nuggets of cheddar with NO Breading. the only ones i've seen in chicago have been frozen and breaded. A true crime.

I recently had the pleasure of sampling these bad boys at the Wisconsin State Fair and they were thoroughly enjoyable . . .



The cheese was just salty enough and slightly runny. The coating was hot and crispy. They were served with a choice of ranch dressing or dusseldorf mustard. This and a gargantuan cream puff were the best things I tasted at the fair.

=R=

A little example of social media marketing at work here. Was watching the 1st round set of games of the NCAA basketball Tourney this past March when some re-tweeted a tweet from The Anthem in Ukrainian Village, which I had never heard of, mentioning that had all the games on and their Juicy Lucy was 1/2 off on Thursdays. So I went over to watch a half of games and have one.


Juicy Lucy at The Anthem

Anthem is an updated retro sports bar so there's plenty of TV's and beer options available if that what you're looking for. I was able to take a seat amongst the brosephs for a beer and order a burger. Not bad. I think it was $10 regularly priced so having paid just $5 for it with the fries this was a good deal. I thought it was a pretty good representation of the signature burger from the Twin Cities. As far as bar specials go, this was a good one.


The insides

The Anthem
1725 W Division St
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 697-4804

I think the cheese that's in the Juicy Luicy at The Anthem is Velveeta. Even so, I've had it a few times and it's a solid burger if your on a Division street bar crawl.

There's also a tasty stuffed cheese burger that goes by the name "The Ooey Gooey" at Phil's Last Stand in Ukrainian Village. It's a char grilled burger stuffed with Merkts Chedder, topped with grilled onions and "fatso sauce" (think In and Out sauce clone.) They also serve up fresh hand cut, twice fried fries. It's really quite good. Also, they have a nice little "secret" menu. For example, you can have em cut your spuds shoe-string style. It's not on the menu but just ask and they won't look at you weird. You can also have a fried egg on anything, just ask. I think the next time I'm there, and Phil is hanging around, I'm going to try and ask him to make my burger "animal style" and see what happens. After all, their regular "Fatso Burger" basically aims to be a char grilled "In and Out Burger" clone. Anyhow, I can't sing enough praises about this place.

Then theres Lockdown Bar and Grill around the corner on Western, also in Ukrainian Village. I'll give you their websites description of their "Lockdown Warden Burger;" Certified Angus Beef® infused with Bacon,Leeks,Garlic and Shallots,stuffed with Merkts Cheddar, topped with Fried Leeks and Shallots with Truffle Oil. This is a mighty fine stuffed burger. Tuesdays is half off burgers, tho fair warning; the Warden Burger is exempt from the special.

I believe Phil, of Phil's Last Stand, is the father of the owner of Lockdown.

I guess UK Village is the place to be for a stuffed burger in Chicago eh?

-B


Phil's Last Stand (Corner of Oakley & Chicago, parking lot access off of Oakley)
2258 W Chicago Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 245-3287

Lockdown Bar & Grill (Corner of Cortez & Western)
1024 N Western Ave
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 687-8565

Geez, Ramon. Show some restraint. Use your inner voice. Not every thought is worth sharing.

Ramon wrote:This reminds me a poem from my overly literate childhood that we would chant loudly and often:

Lucy met the train
The train met Lucy
The tracks were juicy
The juice was Lucy

Funk Dracula wrote: ..."The Ooey Gooey" at Phil's Last Stand ...

Coincidentally, (pah, I don't believe in coincidences) the above poem has a corollary:

Ooey Gooey was a worm
A little worm was he
He climbed upon the railroad track
The train he did not see
Ooey Gooey

-ramon
sorry

Da Beef wrote:. . . The Anthem in Ukrainian Village, which I had never heard of, mentioning that had all the games on and their Juicy Lucy was 1/2 off on Thursdays.

Funk Dracula wrote:I guess UK Village is the place to be for a stuffed burger in Chicago eh?

I hadn't been aware of the stuffed burger cluster in Ukrainian Village and Humboldt Park. Now that the Ju(i)cy Lucy has gained a foothold in Chicago (even with the loss of Pista House and their Juicy Lucie) it will be interesting to see how much it spreads. Dia de los Tamales, a new place in Pilsen, offers Juicy Lucy tamales.



I haven't tried them. Somehow the idea of masa-encased ground beef and American cheese doesn't excite me.

Dia de los Tamales
939 W 18th St
Chicago
312-496-3057

Hi- On Saturday morning, the travel channel runs reruns of the show Man V. Food. I've noticed that in the latest epsodes, Adam finds somebody else to do the food challenges. Maybe his body can't take it any more. Anyway, this last Saturday, one of their shows was about the Jucy Lucy. According to Adam, there are two different restaurants that claim to have created this burger. Matt's and I believe Cafe 5-8. They are down the street from each other. Matt's refers to their burger as a Jucy Lucy, and the other restaurant refers to their sandwich as a Juicy Lucy. As I remember Matt's only serves their Jucy Lucy with one type of cheese, which is American but the other restaurant lets you choose between American and several other types of cheese. Hope this helps, Nancy

I went to both when up there on business last year. Matt's was a great neighborhood joint. Simple menu is right. Simple but good. We chatted with the owner while there. Great atmosphere. 58 Club is a nice place with a broader menu. Hard to beat Matt's.

Just had the Jucy Lucy at Matt's. Decent but not my favorite burger. Nice crisp shoestring fries, but that, burgers and a grilled cheese sandwich are all that's on the menu. At a quarter to 7 we were seated pretty quickly, but the order took 35 minutes (bartender said that is typical for when it's busy). Fried onions are a must, but these were strong and not very sweet. I think I'll keep my cheese on the outside from now on. Pics when I get home. Great dive bar.

We spent a weekend up in the Twin Cities a couple weeks ago for my sons’ college graduation.

Our choice of venue for a juicy Lucy was the Nook. The burger was good but nothing earth shattering. Great place to hang out and have a few drinks though.

An ode to the Jucy Lucy (or Juicy Lucy) of Minneapolis, which may be the best cheeseburger in America.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/c ... story.html