S & B Burger Joint: Where the Cool Kids Eat
The Elvis and French Onion sliders at S & B Burger Joint.
S&B Burger Joint, 5929 N May Ave., Suite 106, is adjacent to The Electro Lounge in the building across the parking lot from a Best Buy – a highly unlikely spot to find a top tier burger. But that’s what you’ll find at this neophyte burger dispensary. S is for Shannon and B is for Brian, the two gents who’ve been slugging it out in the same space for a decade, offering indie rockers and philosophers respite from the Affliction-afflicted, metrosexual and Classen Circle rowdy crowds. The Electro Lounge has long been where the cool kids beer up and listen to the city’s finest jukebox, thanks to the Spy’s Ferris O’Brien, and proselytize against
Nickelback and for The Mekons, The Smiths, The Replacements, Sufjan Stevens or anything produced by Dangermouse. Now the proselytizing can expand into burgerdom: Say no to Chili’s or Red Robin, say yes to a nice Fatty. Thanks to S & B Burger Joint, some of those waif-life shoegazers we’ve come to know and yearn to be might put on a little weight.
S & B Burger Joint is adjacent to the Electro Lounge, taking over the area were a pool table once resided.
In an attempt to become more kid-friendly for their maturing customers, Shannon and Brian remodeled the area where the pool table used to be into a small diner.
“It’s probably the best thing we’ve ever done in here,” Shannon said said. “Everybody that comes in here for drinks ends up eating. Everyone.”
That’s because S & B’s is serving up honest, authentic burgers on the griddle. The meat is never frozen. The patties come out with a nice crust and a lush, pink center — even the sliders. Speaking of sliders, while the Fatty is the signature burger, the sliders are what attract me. When I talked to Shannon, I found that we’re kindred spirits about burger consumption.
“I was tired of going to Red Robin and paying a bunch of money for a burger I couldn’t finish and not getting to try out the different toppings.”
So, S&B offers an extensive selection of sliders. They are not your $1 sliders from White Castle, which is a good thing. No, a great thing. Aside from giving us the genius that is Harold and Kumar, I’ve always likened White Castle burgers to Steakumm on a school cafeteria roll. No, the S&B slider is muscular. Cost is $4, but two will get you where you want to be. Three is merely prelude to a nap. The record, according to the scoreboard over the counter, is 10 consumed in an hour. While I’m sure there was plenty of motivation and adulation expended upon the champion in his hour of triumph, my guess is the following 18 to 24 hours were marked by self-loathing and promises and proclamations on bended knee to eat nowhere but Coolgreens and/or 105degrees Cafe until the Winter Solstice.
Right now, a new menu is under construction. On my latest visit, I tried two sliders from the upcoming menu: The French Onion slider and the Elvis. The French Onion included mushrooms, swiss and the meat was clearly infused by some amount of French onion dip flavoring. The Elvis as it was envisioned isn’t how it’s currently being executed. I was promised peanut butter and banana on a bacon-cheeseburger. If either Harold or Kumar had bumped into this concoction, cinema history would’ve been changed forever. Because they haven’t been able to keep bananas fresh enough, the Elvis slider has no banana today. As a card-carrying peanut butter freak, this burger really worked for me. I must say that I would really love to try it with the banana, though.
The new menu is due any day and will include these choices, the old faithfuls and a few surprises. Shannon is an adventurous dude, and there’s no reason to believe he won’t stop experimenting. Right now, you can dress your burger or slider with numerous mayos and dressings, bacon, hot peppers, assorted cheeses, Cincinnati-style chili, fried eggs and more. Meanwhile, you can get any burger on the menu with a vegetarian or ground turkey patty. On the side, you’ll want to start with the fried pepper-jack cheese cubes. The fries are solid, but it’s the sweet potato fries that I can’t get enough of — ever.
S & B is closed Sundays, and shuts down at 6 on Mondays. Otherwise, they’re serving burgers till 2 a.m., giving north-side Nighthawks an option beyond The Drunken Fry, Big Truck Tacos and Beverly’s.
Who would’ve thought at the dawn of the 21st Century that by the next decade, some of the city’s best burgers would be in The Electro Lounge and the neighboring Best Buy would still be in business despite selling virtually no CDs? Life, she’s a funny one.
Have you been to S & B Burger Joint? Let me know what you thought. Be sure to take a look at what Greg Elwell had to say from The Corner Booth.
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Great burgers, good to know that they are open til 2!