My favorite spot for an amazing burger !! Best hash brown ever . Lola was the most pleasant  waitress I ever met

My favorite spot for an amazing burger !! Best hash brown ever . Lola was the most pleasant  waitress I ever met  Read Less

The following is a short list of opinions I find to be factually and indisputably true:- The burnt orange Longhorns uni is the ...  Read More

The following is a short list of opinions I find to be factually and indisputably true:- The burnt orange Longhorns uni is the best in all college football.- Pound for pound, you won't find a greater food city than New Orleans.- The high school movie pinnacle is Jennifer Love Hewitt in Can't Hardly Wait.- Friday Night Lights' theme song has all the feels.And finally: there is no better burger than Chicago's Au Cheval single with fried egg, particularly with a bar seat immediately at 11am next to the lead server and staring straight at said burger's line cook.New York's attempt to replicate the best there ever was - much like Shake Shack out of Madison Square Park or Halal Guys outside 53rd & 6th - doesn't quite match up pound for pound. But it sure does a good job swinging for those fences.A few things going for Au Cheval deux:First, the off-Walker alleyway entrance thing is plenty cool and actually cribs from some of Brendan Sodikoff's other Chicago concepts like Green Street or High Five Ramen.Second, the bar and dining space is absurdly huge relative to the Chicago OG, or to any brand spankin' new Manhattan restaurant, for that matter. It's a Willy Wonka supersized version of Chicago's, which is nothing but a compliment.Third, while it's not open at said 11am time slot, there's a v intriguing overflow bar downstairs - again, reminiscent of the Chicago underground scene (The Library below Gilt Bar, for example).So, back to that single with fried egg. If you can at all swing it, I strongly recommend a short jaunt to Chicago and a one-to-four hour wait for the original. Mine looked the part, but was just slightly off - too heavy-handed on the salt, not quite a perfect toast on the bun, a little too rare in the middle, a missing crunch on the pickle. The second-team all-pro rather than the MVP year, if you will.Still, all in all, a phenomenal burger and a perfectly able substitute. Giddy up.  Read Less