“There’s something about Mary’s hamburgers”

I have had Hamburger Mary’s on my radar for quite some time now but sadly I rarely seem to get over into Andersonville to eat at many of the districts varied and diverse resturants. Mostly I try to eat within easy reach of the elevated railway, and it is quite a distance between the nearest station stop and the main Andersonville drag along Clark Street. If I do head over there it is on the Damen 80 CTA bus which you can pick up from the Damen Brown line station.

I don’t know why but when I see the Hamburger Mary’s sign I think of the film “There’s something about Mary” with Cameron Diaz and that made me have a quick hunt around for film quotes. I was quite tickled by the following;

Mary: I want a guy who can play 36 holes of golf, and still have enough energy to take Warren and me to a baseball game, and eat sausages, and beer, not lite beer, but beer. That’s my ad, print it up.
Brenda: “Fatty who likes golf and beer.” Gee, Mary, where are you gonna find a gem like that?

I would be answering that advert, but before I did I would have to make sure that there was a table free at Hamburger Mary’s and some spare box tickets at the Cubs.

But I have digressed quite substantially once again, I should get back to the task in hand which was telling you about the food we ate at this somewhat quirky and unique Hamburger joint.

This is your basic house option from the list of Classic 1/2lb Burgers on offer. It is The “Mary” Burger which comes with lettuce, pickles and Mary’s sauce which is basically thousand island dressing. This one had cheddar cheese added to it and the Mary’s sauce on the side. It looks good but I didn’t eat this one so can only go by the diner’s review which was that it was really good.

My choice was the “All American” Burger. This was a 1/2 lb burger ‘stuffed’ with bacon and Worcestershire sauce, then topped with some more slices of bacon, some American cheese which had melted or rather oozed across the burger, a crispy bit of lettuce, some juicy tomato and plain mayonaisse. It was a great big juicy burger, lots of bread and when I cut it in half to show you the filling you can almost see the chunks of bacon bits with which it was stuffed. If you cannot see them, don’t worry I can vouch for their presence and not only that but you could really taste the saltiness of the bacon within the burger.

Often I am quite dismissive of the side options that come with my burger, but on this occasion the ‘Tasty Seasoned Fries” were really quite good. I have a very simple, basic and easy to follow rule to define if my fries are any good or not – “can I eat them without adding any sauce?” For these fries that answer was yes I could, I could have easily eaten the whole bowl without resorting to dipping them into a sauce to add flavour. That is no small feat these days when sometimes the sides seem to be just an afterthought or plate filler. The fries at Hamburger Mary’s are well worth eating.