Juicy, crispy, cheesy, and a big warm bun and a huge hunk of meat -- Jimmy Buffet may have been onto something when he wrote "Cheeseburger in Paradise."
And although the best, most tasty cheeseburger in Illinois may be subjective, a new nationwide cheeseburger ranking from Yelp says otherwise.
According to the review site's Top Cheeseburger in Every State list released Tuesday, "there's nothing like the perfect cheeseburger to get your mouth watering and your tummy rumbling."
While not an exact science, Yelp says the methodology used to rank the top cheeseburgers is based on "businesses in the food and restaurants category on Yelp, with a large concentration of reviews mentioning “cheeseburger.'" From there, the site ranked each spot using a variety of factors, including "total volume and ratings of reviews mentioning “cheeseburger” between January 1, 2022 and July 15, 2022."
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So, which burger earned the title of top cheeseburger in Illinois?
According to Yelp, it's Au Cheval, a "diner-style bar and restaurant with a passion for eggs," the restaurant's website waxes.
According to a 2019 article from The Gothamist pondering the question "Is Au Cheval's Burger Really The Best in America?", the restaurant's name "translates literally to "on horseback," but in French diner-ese it means "with a fried egg.'"
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That translation is replicated on the menu, where diners can add for $2.95 an egg onto either a single cheeseburger or double cheeseburger.
"I obviously got their burger and of course added the thick cut peppered bacon and fried farm egg," one Yelp review reads. "Man this burger was EVERYTHING. The single almost seemed like a double since I think that's how their patties are so I can't imagine how filling the double is."
If you'd like to try Illinois' top cheeseburger 'Au Cheval,' the restaurant is located at 800 W. Randolph in the West Loop. Read the full Yelp ranking here.
