The Region - NW Indiana Burgers in Roscoe Village

Stopped by the newly opened The Region in Roscoe Village for a burger this Saturday afternoon. They make the NW Indiana smash burgers.

The space is really tiny with only around seating for 10 or so. With people waiting in line to order from the counter, the place was cramped. Good for them I guess.

Service: They’re new, so take this with a grain of salt. They were in the weeds as the nice young lady working the cash register also was trying to shuttle food and deal with POS issues. I saw a lot of customers not get their full meal at once (fries come out minutes before a burger, minutes before a shake). I also saw an order returned or being incorrect. Like I said, this is their first weekend, so hopefully these are just first week issues.

Food: 7oz of thin, crisped burger goodness. It comes with lettuce, tomatoes and "Region Sauce". I opted out of the region sauce as it’s some mayo monstrosity that was described as kinda sweet mayo....it was pink. If you like this style of burger, you’ll like the Region. There were some spicy sauce options on the board I didn't really explore as I wanted to get the unadulterated smash burger taste. The fries are the battered style that I really don’t like. They’re a medium cut and a small order was plenty with the burger. Despite my not liking the fry style, they were well cooked.

Value: Fries and a single cheeseburger come out around $13 w/ tax. I wouldn’t say a value, but not too bad given the location.

I’ll probably be back given it’s nearby. But, I’ll probably give them a week or so to work out the kinks in service.

The Region
2057 W Roscoe St
Chicago, IL 60618
<no website as of yet>

Went on opening night and was a big fan.

As the guy who started the "Why Doesnt Schoops Have a Cult Following" thread, I'm thrilled to finally have a place in the city that does a pretty respectable version of this kind of burger. Thought the patty itself was perfect, if a little under-seasoned. But the crispness and the lacing were both exactly what I've grown to love about Schoops. My biggest issue with it was the bun - way too small and *maybe* covers 1/2 of the total patty. I think I get what they're going for here, as often at Schoops I will remove pieces of just beef patty to get the pure smashburger experience with nothing else - but I'm happier with that being the exception to the experience and not the rule. The "Region sauce" was a nice complement, and the fries were hot and crispy. I imagine I will be back here a plenty, and fans of the Red Hot Ranch burger should run here as well.

I went last night and the patty was on point with that lace. The onion rings were a little underseasoned for my taste and the mix/match stools/tables up front are not the most comfortable, but I will be back for that burger.

Commbrkdwn wrote: I imagine I will be back here a plenty, and fans of the Red Hot Ranch burger should run here as well.

Is the burger twice as good as the RHR double with cheese? It better be because it costs twice as much.

Its closer to my house, but RHR is only another 5 minutes down the street from Reunion and half the price so not sure why I would ever go to Reunion unless the food is amazing.

I'd say my burger was definitely crisper and with more of the lacing than a RHR burger. It's a bigger, single 7oz patty. As others noted, it ends up a lot bigger than the bun. That didn't bother me a ton.

In my experience, the quality of how RHR burgers and fries are cooked varies a lot depending on who is on the grill/fryer. I'd suspect a little more quality control at Region given the owner is in the kitchen now.

All that said, value is a personal preference. I'd give the nod to RHR based upon price and a personal preference to fresh cut fries over those battered style.

Agree with that assessment. Not twice as good, but definitely crispier and definitely larger. There's plenty of stomach space for both of them in my life

I visited this past weekend, having never had a Schoops burger, so I can't compare. But this was a very respectable (albeit expensive) burger. My cheeseburger with chopped jalapenos, fries and a diet coke set me back around $15.

Here's a look at the burger:





The edges were impressively crispy, no question. Good flavor overall. And it's a huge burger. Two small complaints: 1) too many raw onion slices (easily removed/cut) and 2) the sauce is a little too sweet for my liking. But overall, a very nice burger.

I was expecting to be disappointed with the fries, but they weren't bad at all. My dining companion really liked them. Batter dipped? Not my thing. But I've had them where the batter is far more thick, so I didn't find them offensive at all. You really can't tell that they're in any kind of a batter really. They're slightly crisp, soft inside, decent enough.






Overall, a positive experience. But I prefer both the burgers and fries and Red Hot Ranch, and it's less expensive, so I probably won't be returning. But if you're a big fan of crispy edges, they're doing that really well and you'll probably enjoy.

Had lunch at The Region today. It was my first visit, and it won't be my last, although I'll probably end up at RHR much more often.

The burger was as advertised, bigger than the bun with nice lacy edges. The fries were outstanding. Hand cut on the thinner side and perfectly double fried. They no longer use battered fries, and that's a good thing.

I think I slightly prefer a double of the slightly smaller and thinner RHR burger to the larger single served at The Region, but both are outstanding burgers.

I was in the area today at around noon and stopped in. There were maybe 8-10 people in the place, all seated (and occupying all the seating) and none of them had food. We were greeted warmly by someone who appeared to be the only person working. He told us he'd be right with us, and then ducked into the kitchen. A few minutes passed. No one had come to take our order and still, no one had food. A few more people came in behind us. At that point we decided to leave and try it again on another day. It's a really small place, so maybe lunch time isn't the best time to go. I'll try to go back at a more "off" hour. It sure smelled good in there.

=R=