Small Cheval

i looked for a thread on this, but couldn't find it. so, i'll start one. i had a noon lunch yesterday (Sat.) with some friends. they all were very happy with the burgers. the menu consists of only burger/cheeseburger/fries, and soft drinks and alcohol. the service is like a fast food restaurant. they'd barely handed us our pager before our food was ready. nothing at all wrong with that, but i would have liked to have known that the cheeseburger would be gooey with 'dijonaise', so i could have asked for it without it. it's a substantial burger, but i didn't think it was beefy tasting. adding some housemade garlic aioli made it tastier, but i enjoyed my $6 cheeseburger at parts and labor last week much more. the small cheval burger is 2 patties (i assume 1/4# each). i noticed some pink in some of the burgers in my party, but mine were well done. no crispy edges to enhance the taste. considering what a madhouse it was, i really didn't get much pleasure eating/sitting there. i'm glad to try it once, but no need to go back for an ordinary, if large, burger. i'm probably in the minority on this, but so be it.... there's seating outside; most of it in adirondack chairs set at tables, that look extremely unlikely to be a comfortable place to eat a messy burger...

SMALL CHEVAL
1732 n. milwaukee

I agree with your assessment of the burger. I expected something like Au Cheval and it was totally different. Overall I found it to be slightly more packed with ingredients than Au Cheval is, and it needed some more acidity. The Au Cheval dijonnaise is missing. The burger needs some tweaking.

From the Tribune:

Au Cheval, Small Cheval: How different are the burgers?

i'm confused by this article: i had no option to choose a single patty when i was there saturday. it was a double with cheese (which i did order). the article says that single pattys are available at small cheval, but it's not on the small menu board, or i would have ordered it.

justjoan wrote:i'm confused by this article: i had no option to choose a single patty when i was there saturday. it was a double with cheese (which i did order). the article says that single pattys are available at small cheval, but it's not on the small menu board, or i would have ordered it.

Article indicates that a "single" at both places includes two patties. Appears to be no way to get a burger with just one patty at either place.

justjoan wrote:i'm confused by this article: i had no option to choose a single patty when i was there saturday. it was a double with cheese (which i did order). the article says that single pattys are available at small cheval, but it's not on the small menu board, or i would have ordered it.

I guess you could ask if they'll make one like that special just for you, but at the real Au Cheval, a single has two patties, IIRC. It's probably the same at small cheval.

Hopped Up wrote:Appears to be no way to get a burger with just one patty at either place.

At least, not without going all Jack Nicholson on the server.

Hopped Up wrote:

justjoan wrote:i'm confused by this article: i had no option to choose a single patty when i was there saturday. it was a double with cheese (which i did order). the article says that single pattys are available at small cheval, but it's not on the small menu board, or i would have ordered it.

Article indicates that a "single" at both places includes two patties. Appears to be no way to get a burger with just one patty at either place.

i managed to read the article quickly but missed the 2 patties thing... i've never been to au cheval, so i had no expectations. too much of a scene for my taste...thanks all of you.

Ask for a "small burger." You'll get a single patty.

jhdouglass wrote:Ask for a "small burger." You'll get a single patty.

thanks, i didn't like it enough to go back....probably...but i never know when the pressing urge for a burger will hit...

Small Cheval, the more casual version of West Loop hamburger hotspot Au Cheval, will open this year in the new office tower at 150 N. Riverside Plaza, the tower's developer says.

https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2017021 ... ntown-loop

Been to the new place on the river twice now - once on opening day and back again today. I must say, it's a great big....meh. I really like the Au burger - bacon/egg/mash of flavor. Small is missing a lot in that regard, decent but for $14 (w/o bacon - 16 plus) with fries I think UBDogs is a much better value.

Now if we can get Joey to bring back the Italian beefs the lunch rotation is complete.

Went last night, and the line wasn't terrible but it did seem long for a Wednesday. We got there maybe around 8pm, and the line got longer and longer. The outside was open, but as it was raining and 40F, I don't think anyone went to sit out there. I thought the burger was tasty but too salty, and could only finish 1/2.

HI,

Went last night after passing by it a number of times.

Minimalist food offerings: burger, cheeseburger, +bacon, french fries.

Far broader range of drinks including shakes and cocktails.

I ordered a cheeseburger with extra onions, fries and a pop.

The extra onions were on the side to allow me to add as much or as little as I wished. I never received before such a small quantity of tiny minced onions ever before. It barely qualified as extra onions. I scrapped every itty bitty piece onto my burger.

I did like my burger despite the extra onions being barely present.

I really liked the aioli for the fries. The fries were terrific.

Sat with a friend on the corner of the communal table. Lots of families with kids were present. We left rather quickly to give seating to the next wave of customers.

Overall there was a happy vibe about this place.

Regards,
Cathy2