Chicago: Kuma's Corner
The first time I went to Kuma's was back in my first year of law school. I had such a horrible experience that I hadn't returned since. Just get a load of this.
Kuma's is rather far north, so it took my friends and I over an hour and a half to get there via public transportation. Then we proceeded to wait over two hours for a table. None was opening up, so we finally resorted to hovering at the bar, claiming one stool at a time until the three of us could finally sit together. All the while, music was blasting at top volume and weird, grotesque flicks were being shown on the TV screen above the bar.
By the time our food finally arrived, we were all a bit annoyed and not really in the mood to eat. So we picked at the food, packed it up, and hightailed it out of there. Only to be stuck on public transportation for over another hour and a half. We'd left the house at 6:00pm, only ate for about less than 30 minutes, and didn't get back home until midnight.
Pretty horrendous, right?
I vaguely recollect the few bites I did take being good, but that night is such a haze in my memory that I don't even remember finishing the leftovers.
Since that dreadful first visit, I've been understandably reluctant to go back to Kuma's. However, after hearing multiple people wax poetic about Kuma's burgers, I started to toy with the idea of giving it another chance. I definitely wasn't about to take on the evening rush again, so I tried to figure out a day when I could get in for lunch.
My chance came in the form of fall break. Whatever that means. Nobody at the law school understands why we get two random days off at the end of October.
Now, my friends and I have been trying to set up a tradition of hitting up a different burger joint together every month. We started this endeavor last year and succeeded in actually getting a grand total of ONE burger. Pitiful. Fall break provided the perfect excuse and the perfect opportunity to get into Kuma's Corner and revive our monthly burger tradition:
We planned to arrive at Kuma's right when it opened Tuesday morning at 11:30. CK managed to get there early, but the rest of us didn't get there until 11:40, which apparently was all the time Kuma's needed to fill up. We ended up having to wait about half an hour before we could be seated. Plan fail. Still, half an hour is nothing compared to the two hours I had to endure the first time I came.
Kuma's has a pretty bold decorating scheme:
It looks innocent enough until you notice that there are naked women in rather crude poses posted along the wall. Those aside, I do enjoy picking out the quirky messages written on the chalkboard and the various bear decorations.
CK and I decided to split the Iron Maiden:
It came with avocado, cherry peppers, pepper jack, and chipotle mayo:
Everyone else either wasn't happy with the meat to bun ratio or flat out felt that there was too much meat. Uh, what? I disagreed. I loved the fat, juicy beef patty and the thick pretzel bun. My only complaint would be that our burger came a little well done to be properly medium.
CK and I also split the mac and cheese with sundried tomatoes and caramelized onions:
We're still trying to work through it. No joke. We barely touched it at Kuma's, so we packed it home, where it's been sitting in our fridge even after taking out half of it for dinner one night. How many meals can two people get out of one order of Kuma's mac and cheese? This is starting to get ridiculous...
Anyway, my final conclusion is that Kuma's burgers are indeed legit. I still wouldn't come during dinner time, but I definitely want to come back and try all the other amazing-sounding burgers on the menu.
This just goes to show that you should always give things a second chance. Now if only we could get our monthly burger tradition to stick...
Kuma's Corner
2900 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 604-8769
http://www.kumascorner.com/
Kuma's is rather far north, so it took my friends and I over an hour and a half to get there via public transportation. Then we proceeded to wait over two hours for a table. None was opening up, so we finally resorted to hovering at the bar, claiming one stool at a time until the three of us could finally sit together. All the while, music was blasting at top volume and weird, grotesque flicks were being shown on the TV screen above the bar.
By the time our food finally arrived, we were all a bit annoyed and not really in the mood to eat. So we picked at the food, packed it up, and hightailed it out of there. Only to be stuck on public transportation for over another hour and a half. We'd left the house at 6:00pm, only ate for about less than 30 minutes, and didn't get back home until midnight.
Pretty horrendous, right?
I vaguely recollect the few bites I did take being good, but that night is such a haze in my memory that I don't even remember finishing the leftovers.
Since that dreadful first visit, I've been understandably reluctant to go back to Kuma's. However, after hearing multiple people wax poetic about Kuma's burgers, I started to toy with the idea of giving it another chance. I definitely wasn't about to take on the evening rush again, so I tried to figure out a day when I could get in for lunch.
My chance came in the form of fall break. Whatever that means. Nobody at the law school understands why we get two random days off at the end of October.
Now, my friends and I have been trying to set up a tradition of hitting up a different burger joint together every month. We started this endeavor last year and succeeded in actually getting a grand total of ONE burger. Pitiful. Fall break provided the perfect excuse and the perfect opportunity to get into Kuma's Corner and revive our monthly burger tradition:
We planned to arrive at Kuma's right when it opened Tuesday morning at 11:30. CK managed to get there early, but the rest of us didn't get there until 11:40, which apparently was all the time Kuma's needed to fill up. We ended up having to wait about half an hour before we could be seated. Plan fail. Still, half an hour is nothing compared to the two hours I had to endure the first time I came.
Kuma's has a pretty bold decorating scheme:
It looks innocent enough until you notice that there are naked women in rather crude poses posted along the wall. Those aside, I do enjoy picking out the quirky messages written on the chalkboard and the various bear decorations.
CK and I decided to split the Iron Maiden:
It came with avocado, cherry peppers, pepper jack, and chipotle mayo:
Everyone else either wasn't happy with the meat to bun ratio or flat out felt that there was too much meat. Uh, what? I disagreed. I loved the fat, juicy beef patty and the thick pretzel bun. My only complaint would be that our burger came a little well done to be properly medium.
CK and I also split the mac and cheese with sundried tomatoes and caramelized onions:
We're still trying to work through it. No joke. We barely touched it at Kuma's, so we packed it home, where it's been sitting in our fridge even after taking out half of it for dinner one night. How many meals can two people get out of one order of Kuma's mac and cheese? This is starting to get ridiculous...
Anyway, my final conclusion is that Kuma's burgers are indeed legit. I still wouldn't come during dinner time, but I definitely want to come back and try all the other amazing-sounding burgers on the menu.
This just goes to show that you should always give things a second chance. Now if only we could get our monthly burger tradition to stick...
Kuma's Corner
2900 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60618
(773) 604-8769
http://www.kumascorner.com/
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