DMK Burger Bar

Photo: Martha Williams

“Who’s excited to eat the best damn burger in the Midwest?” boasted one tweet last month from @DMKBurgerBar. It was a grand claim, but DMK partners David Morton (of the Morton’s family empire) and Michael Kornick (mk) were speaking from experience. The two have spent the past year traversing not just the Midwest but New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Miami and everywhere in between “to get a sense of how the rest of the world was thinking about burgers,” Morton says. What they discovered was that despite the proliferation of fast food–style burgers, there was something missing from the scene. Enter DMK, the pair’s proposal to “change the dialogue about burgers” with a dozen designed by Kornick, made of grass-fed beef, topped with everything from pastrami to fried green tomatoes, paired perhaps with truffle fries or fried pickles and washed down with housemade soda or craft beer. It’s all served at a 75-seat restaurant and bar outfitted with wood from a Wisconsin barn the pair bought. Yes, an entire barn. @DMKBurgerBar may have been talking a big game, but DMK Burger Bar seems to actually be bringing it. 2954 N Sheffield Ave, 773-360-8686.

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