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Eating at Kuma's Corner was an interesting experience, I'm not sure whether I would do it again, but I'm certainly glad that I had gone.
We went at a really odd time at around 2:30 PM on Saturday, and the place was absolutely packed. We were told that there would be a wait time of 3.5 hours; but having read so many positive reviews online and on TV, we were determined to wait. After all, waiting for good food is not a foreign concept: I've done 3 hour waits at 4:30 AM!
As we waited, it became more an more irritating... the room was stiflingly hot, and the heavy-metal music made me more and more angry as I watched other patrons wolfing down their big plates of meat and fries. Eventually, we decided to go for a seat at the bar instead (shorter wait). Everybody was vigilant as chairs were hot commodities, and I almost ended up fighting a guy for a seat (which he later rightfully claimed because he had in fact been standing there much longer than I had)... not something I would have normally done, but stakes were high. SORRY DUDE!
The "Zagat Rated" sign held high inside the bar. But to be honest, 24 is quite low.
Mac & Cheese
We finally got a seat after at around 4 PM, and began our special food journey with a plate of Mac and Cheese. The dish was rather well-done, the andouille sausage bits were tasty and the jalapenos gave it an added kick. This was a simple and bold dish, and went extremely well with my Milk Stout draft beer.
Iron Maiden:
Onto the burger, the reason why I came. The burger was actually extremely disappointing given its hype. Objectively speaking, it was a decent burger, I would have probably eaten it without much complaint if I ordered it from a random burger joint. However, having been proclaimed to be "Chicago's best" by various people, it did not come close in meeting my expectations.
I ordered a medium, and what came out was at the very least a medium-well, maybe even well; this is not something that can be overlooked. Much like steak, the temperature also makes a burger. The entire patty was cooked through, not a hint of pinkness was found, not even at the centre. The patty was extremely thick, which should be a good thing, given how burgers should be juicy. The patty turned out to be very dry, which I suspect is due to the line cooks repeatedly pressing the burger with their spatula, an act that I loathe. Truthfully, the patty was closer to a chunk of meatloaf rather than a burger.
The toppings were delicious: avocado and the chipotle mayo sauce worked beautifully together, making the otherwise very dry burger creamy and full of flavours. The pretzel bun is an ingenious inclusion, as the bun has more structural rigidity, and remains in tact even though the patty is 10 oz. However, I found the bun to be quite salty, and that distracted the experience somewhat.
High On Fire
This burger suffered the same fate as the Iron Maiden. Again, the toppings were delicious, the combination of grilled pineapple with roasted pepper is heavenly; as an added plus, because this burger was slightly on the sweet side, the added saltiness of the bun actually gave it great balance.
In conclusion, Kuma's serves decent burgers with creative and original toppings, but overcooking patties at an established burger joint is an act of sin and should not be excused; for this reason, I sincerely hope there are better burger places in Chicago. Overall, 1.5 hr wait is more than acceptable if the food is exceptional, but unfortunately, Kuma's was not. Pearl's in SF is much better and has almost no lines (except maybe at late-nights on weekends); similarly, almost every burger I had in Tokyo surpass Kuma's by miles.
 
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Hmmmmm, looks delicious anyhow. But where's the top bun on the iron maden? Is it just avocados or is it just off to the side somewhere?
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YES, I had the iron maiden at lollapalooza 2010, sooooooooo amazinggggggg
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D:
I'm hungry~
Need more food blogs :D
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More food blogs please. 
Yeah, burger looks tasty, but standardish.
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Wrote that one on the plane, made some changes
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On February 23 2011 08:17 ghrur wrote:
Hmmmmm, looks delicious anyhow. But where's the top bun on the iron maden? Is it just avocados or is it just off to the side somewhere?
It's under the onion behind it
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That still looks pretty amazing and I just realized how hungry I am. Maybe it's time to go to Five Guys.
Sausage and jalapenos in mac and cheese sounds like a great idea too, I'll have to start doing that
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Fun fact: Kuma is the japanese word for pedobear.
+ Show Spoiler +Originally, it just means "bear", but they were obviously too lazy to think of a new name, so they just named him kuma, iirc.
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Yeah the food blogs are awesome, well written and tasty pictures. Need more food (blogs)!
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omg those fries look so good :O
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I enjoyed Kuma's when I went there a month ago. It wasn't the best burger that I've ever had, but it was close.
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Kuma's fries are pretty terrible unfortunately. Also, I'd agree with your general assessment of their burgers. They are good and there is a nice selection of different kinds, but in the end it's a little overhyped.
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whats the price tag on the burger. these specialty burgers always cost outrageous amounts.
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Neurosis burger? High on Fire burger ? Clutch burger? Mastodon burger?
Best fucking place ever.
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I have been a Chicago resident for the last 27 years and have tasted most of the burger joints in this town.
I don't know what the fuck they serve in Tokyo, but this is, in my opinion, the best burger you can get here. How did you order your burger? There is very little chance of overcooking a patty if you order it medium-rare like the waiter / waitress probably suggested.
Aside from the burgers, the mac & cheese is excellent... custom toppings?
The beer selection is excellent... Delirium Tremens? Stone IPA? Three Floyds Gumballhead?
And, above all, the music selection is excellent. If you weren't so busy being a philistine, you might have taken your head out of your ass for 5 minutes of the 3.5 hours you supposedly waited, and realized that they play some great metal. The last time I was there, they played Sleep's Holy Mountain in it's entirety. Are you fucking kidding me? At a restaurant? How awesome is that?
I don't recall reading any of your previous food blogs, but I can assure you that I will be ignoring them in the future.
FAIL.
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On February 23 2011 11:50 ProTech_MediC wrote:
I have been a Chicago resident for the last 27 years and have tasted most of the burger joints in this town.
I don't know what the fuck they serve in Tokyo, but this is, in my opinion, the best burger you can get here. How did you order your burger? There is very little chance of overcooking a patty if you order it medium-rare like the waiter / waitress probably suggested.
Aside from the burgers, the mac & cheese is excellent... custom toppings?
The beer selection is excellent... Delirium Tremens? Stone IPA? Three Floyds Gumballhead?
And, above all, the music selection is excellent. If you weren't so busy being a philistine, you might have taken your head out of your ass for 5 minutes of the 3.5 hours you supposedly waited, and realized that they play some great metal. The last time I was there, they played Sleep's Holy Mountain in it's entirety. Are you fucking kidding me? At a restaurant? How awesome is that?
I don't recall reading any of your previous food blogs, but I can assure you that I will be ignoring them in the future.
FAIL.
His past food blogs have been amazing. And I feel all this hate is unjustified. You didn't have to rant at the guy for posting his opinion in a blog, lol. There's no need to be uncivil. Differing opinions exist. And the fact that you've lived in Chicago for 27 years would obviously bias your opinion (Of course, not mentioning that the average TL poster's lifespan isn't even 27 years).
You're also making a ton of unjustified assumptions off one blog. In fact, I don't even understand how you think anyone who dislikes heavy metal into a philistine. Seems like a false dichotomy to me.
Therefore, with all this evidence, I ask, are you trolling?
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On February 23 2011 11:50 ProTech_MediC wrote:
I have been a Chicago resident for the last 27 years and have tasted most of the burger joints in this town.
I don't know what the fuck they serve in Tokyo, but this is, in my opinion, the best burger you can get here. How did you order your burger? There is very little chance of overcooking a patty if you order it medium-rare like the waiter / waitress probably suggested.
Aside from the burgers, the mac & cheese is excellent... custom toppings?
The beer selection is excellent... Delirium Tremens? Stone IPA? Three Floyds Gumballhead?
And, above all, the music selection is excellent. If you weren't so busy being a philistine, you might have taken your head out of your ass for 5 minutes of the 3.5 hours you supposedly waited, and realized that they play some great metal. The last time I was there, they played Sleep's Holy Mountain in it's entirety. Are you fucking kidding me? At a restaurant? How awesome is that?
I don't recall reading any of your previous food blogs, but I can assure you that I will be ignoring them in the future.
FAIL.
If you're so adamant about this burger joint being so good, you wouldn't be so offended by his review.
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someone's mad their fave joint got dissed :O
3.5 hours is a pretty long wait though, you can't hate a man for getting frustrated after that kind of wait especially if their taste in music differs from yours lol
not everyone is the same
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On February 23 2011 09:28 starfries wrote:
That still looks pretty amazing and I just realized how hungry I am. Maybe it's time to go to Five Guys.
Sausage and jalapenos in mac and cheese sounds like a great idea too, I'll have to start doing that
Yeah. It's quite excellent. Always do it when I make it.
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On February 23 2011 11:50 ProTech_MediC wrote:
I have been a Chicago resident for the last 27 years and have tasted most of the burger joints in this town.
I don't know what the fuck they serve in Tokyo, but this is, in my opinion, the best burger you can get here. How did you order your burger? There is very little chance of overcooking a patty if you order it medium-rare like the waiter / waitress probably suggested.
Aside from the burgers, the mac & cheese is excellent... custom toppings?
The beer selection is excellent... Delirium Tremens? Stone IPA? Three Floyds Gumballhead?
And, above all, the music selection is excellent. If you weren't so busy being a philistine, you might have taken your head out of your ass for 5 minutes of the 3.5 hours you supposedly waited, and realized that they play some great metal. The last time I was there, they played Sleep's Holy Mountain in it's entirety. Are you fucking kidding me? At a restaurant? How awesome is that?
I don't recall reading any of your previous food blogs, but I can assure you that I will be ignoring them in the future.
FAIL.
Did you even read the blog before posting? I said I ordered medium. I said I liked the mac and cheese, and I said it went well with my beer, the Russian Milk Stout.
I'm not a metal fan, but it did not bother me. I didn't like the fact that they overcooked my patty, which was my only complaint about Kuma's.
Maybe you need to travel outside of Chicago and taste burgers served elsewhere...
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Some people prefer and appreciate Kuma's, some people are just fine with the Burger King right down the street 
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On February 23 2011 12:15 ProTech_MediC wrote:Some people prefer and appreciate Kuma's, some people are just fine with the Burger King right down the street
Some people believe they're always right and are douchebags, some people have open minds and accept other opinions.
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So the bread was the same sort of giant pretzel deal you'd get at a mall or something? Weird... but nice pictures as usual.
On February 23 2011 12:17 SiZ.FaNtAsY wrote:Show nested quote +On February 23 2011 12:15 ProTech_MediC wrote:Some people prefer and appreciate Kuma's, some people are just fine with the Burger King right down the street Some people believe they're always right and are douchebags, some people have open minds and accept other opinions.
FOOD FIGHT!
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On February 23 2011 10:55 buickskylark wrote:
whats the price tag on the burger. these specialty burgers always cost outrageous amounts.
They are all around $12, which is more than acceptable:
a) the size of the patty (10 oz)
b) good toppings
c) the amount of fries
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On February 23 2011 12:20 Trap wrote:So the bread was the same sort of giant pretzel deal you'd get at a mall or something? Weird... but nice pictures as usual. Show nested quote +On February 23 2011 12:17 SiZ.FaNtAsY wrote:On February 23 2011 12:15 ProTech_MediC wrote:Some people prefer and appreciate Kuma's, some people are just fine with the Burger King right down the street Some people believe they're always right and are douchebags, some people have open minds and accept other opinions. FOOD FIGHT!
It's a pretzel roll, something like this:
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i hate food blogs 
especially when i got up late today and skipped my breakfast -_-
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NeverGG
United Kingdom5399 Posts
Your blogs make me so hungry~! My mum says the food in the US is really great, so I'd love to experience it myself one day.
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On February 23 2011 15:05 NeverGG wrote:
Your blogs make me so hungry~! My mum says the food in the US is really great, so I'd love to experience it myself one day.
!! Yeah. It's fairly good in general. Here people always make fun of british cooking, so I'd hope american is at least a bit better!!!
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EPT![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2011.02.19.kumas.corner/i00087 (Small).jpg)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2011.02.19.kumas.corner/i00085 (Small).jpg)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2011.02.19.kumas.corner/i00095 (Small).jpg)
![[image loading]](http://dl.dropbox.com/u/20968/photos/2011.02.19.kumas.corner/i00092 (Small).jpg)
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/PwXyh.jpg)
