Hurdler4eva wrote:Tried their special duck burger last week and loved it. Second best burger in the city (after Edzo's). A 1/2 pound duck patty with baby arugula and topped with goat cheese and peach-apricot-cherry chutney. I asked for medium rare and they cooked it through but it was so delicious I'm thinking maybe they knew best?

One could argue that Edzo's isn't in the city...

All this talk of these burgers is giving me a hankering. I've got to get me one soon!

Mary, that did cross my mind. I'm actually really glad Edzo's is up in Evanston, much easier for me to get to most of the year.

First time at Sono tonight. I had promised myself a red-meat treat, but started vacillating back and forth between the 2 storefronts and Sono's Wed. special of a $16 prix fixe won me over.
It was early (just after 5:00) and tables were just coming in, including a very large birthday party. As I was solo, the hosts asked if I required a table or if I would mind sitting at either the bar, or the chef bar at the back. Happily picked the chef bar, natch. There were two guys prepping pizzas, which I enjoyed watching. (Though squirting ribbons of olive oil onto dough circles and dealing out cheese circlets like cards at a blackjack table ain't exactly a Ron of Japan-type thrill to observe, I still enjoy food prep in action.)
While I think the prix fixe is a good value, I also think it's a bit oddly structured: 1 bruschette (sic), 1 pizza, and gelato. I mean, why 2 very similar starches and a sweet?
And on top of the singular/plural problem with "1 bruschette," my very friendly, competent, and informative waitress insisted on saying "brushetta," which kind of drives me crazy because that's just the kind of wannabe-Henry Higgins-prig I am. ("Oh, why can't the kitchens teach their waiters how to speak?")
The guys behind the pizza prep area both greeted me in a genuinely friendly way. (Only later did my waitress mention that one of them was Chef McLean.) Ordered the wild mushroom bruschetta: A nice slab of perfectly grilled bread, well-melted cheese and mushrooms generously flung on top. The menu said the cheese was Taleggio. I don't doubt it, but I have to say that this particular Taleggio had only a mild woodsy/earthy/funk to it, and seemed more like an OK Fontina. Still, not complaining. It was a very tasty starter. As I was finishing it up, the pizza chef looked over and asked if I'd like him to start the pizza now. Somehow it gave me that warm, almost collaborative feeling you get when you sit at the sushi bar and keep up an ongoing back-and-forth with the sushi chef as you go from piece to piece.
Salsiccia pizza: I'd say it compares favorably with Spacca pizzas, and any others I can recall. The crust was perfectly (as in balanced) charred on bottom, rim, and raised blisters. The crust got softer toward the middle, but didn't at all collapse or disintegrate. The slices held together very nicely.
The combination of crust crunch, char bitterness, moz. creaminess, tomato acid/zing, and the surprising and entirely welcome aggressive heat of the judiciously portioned sausage was darn near perfect. I do have to say that by the end of the pizza, I was finding the salt presence in the sausage a bit much. But still, a great combo of ingredients applied in perfect proportion.
One thing I noticed skimming this thread that I hadn't noticed when I ordered, is that this pizza is described as including roasted peppers. Have to say, I did not detect any on mine. Nor did I miss them, as I wasn't expecting them. As I ate, the non-McLean chef asked me, again in a very genuine, casual way how I liked the pizza, and seemed genuinely interested in the response. I asked him what they did to the tomato on the pizza, as it seemed almost, but not quite, just pure ground tom. He said they cook it very lightly, just about 5 min. with some garlic and a dash of sea salt. Perfect.
For the gelato I chose nocciola, as that is my test flavor for any gelato---the most difficult, I have found, to get right outside of Italy. (Specifically, outside of Vivoli, in Florence.) I don't know if it's Italian hazelnuts, or technique, or both, but I have never encountered the same divine hazelnut intensity anywhere but there.
This was about as close as I've come.
A bit creamier, with more butterfat than my memory of Italian gelato. But the hazelnut presence was really good. The waitress asked how I liked it, and then informed me it was from Black Dog Gelato. (Others here may know the name, I didn't. But I'm glad I do now.)
All in all, I had a really enjoyable meal, and a really nice time. Especially as a solo diner---just enough interaction to make me feel very welcome, but not so insistent as to impinge in any way.
Really liked everything about my whole experience.
Urban Burger next.

mrbarolo, you have me itching to visit Sono now. And for the record, I completely concur about Vivoli in Florence

David Hammond wrote:The burgers at UBB had the beefy backbone of flavor I’ve been looking for...

AGREED.

We chose UBB because of it's close proximity to Steppenwolf Theatre.

Mrs Willie & I had two grassfed burgers w/grilled onions, mushrooms, tomato & pickle slices. Cooked perfectly medium rare !
great big beefy taste, we both became fans.

Truffle fries were good but a little went a long way. Sweet potato tater tots were terrific.

great beer selections

I went to visit the Sono website, and AVG detected a blackhat exploit.
YMMV...

Sweet Willie wrote:

David Hammond wrote:The burgers at UBB had the beefy backbone of flavor I’ve been looking for...

AGREED.

We chose UBB because of it's close proximity to Steppenwolf Theatre.

Mrs Willie & I had two grassfed burgers w/grilled onions, mushrooms, tomato & pickle slices. Cooked perfectly medium rare !
great big beefy taste, we both became fans.

Truffle fries were good but a little went a long way. Sweet potato tater tots were terrific.

great beer selections

Burger Bar continues to fire on all cylinders. It's our traditional pre-Steppenwolf stop. Now if I can only keep my wife from stopping in the Apple Store, I'd be a happy man.

Last night, my wife had her usual lamb burger. Didn't offer me a nibble. My Bar Cheese Burger was cooked to order at medium rare and quite tasty. I don't recall what our friends ordered. But they thanked me for introducing them to BB.

Sono Wood Fired closed https://www.facebook.com/sonowoodfired/posts/2944082135623266 after service on January 11th and it looks like Burger Bar won't be around much longer either. Last time I went to Burger Bar they had changed the menu so that all topping and sides were extra, made an already expensive burger a little too rich for my blood (~$20 for a buger topped the way I want + fries).