Bill's Drive In

This week I'm in Chicagoland and today I ate lunch at Bill's Drive In in Evanston, on Asbury between Dobson and Howard. This place is a classic hole-in-the-wall hot dog and hamburger stand. There is no seating inside, just a few picnic tables in the parking lot, the menu is straightforward, just pick the number of patties and your toppings, and the price is right, around $6 for a filling lunch.

I had a double cheeseburger with tomato, pickles, mustard and ketchup. They don't have lettuce and if you want grilled onions you'd better order them up front. The burger was tasty; they used those thin frozen patties that cook way down, standard American cheese, and your standard soft white burger bun. The fries where your standard thick cut restaurant fries cooked in grease, but I appreciated that they make them to order.

Bill's is a no-frills burger stand that is great for a quick meal. This is what I imagine places like McDonald's and In-n-Out Burger started out as before they lost their way in the pursuit of optimized processes and economies of scale.

Burger Round-Up
Price: $6.25 for double cheese burger, fries, and a coke
Rating: 3.5 (out of 5)

The rating is for the whole meal. Burger was great, fries could have been better.