Chicago's Most Legendary Cheeseburger | Legendary Eats

Chicago is home to plenty of fridges box but you can call themselves an underground wases for politicians celebs and journalists over 85 years this restaurant has evolved into one of Chicago's most iconic culinary landmarks and although it's hidden beneath the city's bustling Michigan Avenue it's become a required stopping point for both hungry locals and visitors because of a history here places like these are hard to find good old mom and pop shops you know with old culture food and nothing's changed the food for years and we've been the same there this is billy goat tavern and it's been cooking up its legendary cheeseburger since the 1960s step inside billy goat tavern and you're instantly overwhelmed with its history the underground shop is covered in a collage of news clips pictures of celebrities and politicians and of course notes of high praise for its legendary cheeseburger cheezeborger cheeseburger cheezeborger cheeseburger cheezeborger doubles the best billy goats burger is sandwiched in between two halves of a kaiser roll bun in between the bun is a juicy thin slab of fresh all natural beef in two slices of cheddar cheese we got deliveries of burgers everyday so we make them fresh every day that's a second-generation owner Billy Sana's and then we get fresh bread every day kaiser roll we post this on the grill so we just wait you know till they start the sweat basically then you flip them it's gonna be a nice sear and that gives it the flavor we put cheese on there and these are the doubles and you can make triples as well but this is why we do the spinner patty because you could do different size burgers to make for a more mouth-watering experience Billy always recommends getting a double cheeseburger customers can choose whether to pile their burger with pickles onions or other toppings but don't expect any lettuce or tomato well we say the goat ain't all those the lettuce and tomatoes so we don't have any of them red is really good the pickles relish on there like that you can throw your own toppings on there Billy says the meat of a billy goat burger is made from a clawed and Chuck blend which comes from the shoulder area of a cow Billy's father and his great uncle didn't want any filler meat and wanted to sell just pure beef and the reason they kept their patties thin and it was because we wanted to sear it but also be juicy inside you do that when you cook it fast also you could stack it using a leaner ratio it cooks better and I stayed the same size and then I shrink too much so that was the ratio that they liked and we've been using that ever since but selling quality cheeseburgers isn't the only reason this a vern became a Chicago institution the original billy goat tavern was born in 1934 across from the Chicago Stadium now known as the United Center when william purchased the lincoln tavern for only 205 dollars after a few months of being open a goat fell off a truck and landed in front of a door and brought it in as the customers came in and they saw that the reaction of the people they liked it and so he decided to keep it and he used that as a mascot from then on William was known as billy-goat he adopted the goat grew a goatee changed the name of the bard to billy goat tavern and made the goat part of his business she started taking the go to different events across the street was into Chicago Stadium so I used to take it to political events sporting events he used to hide the gold and like like a suitcase or something Billy Goats stunts continued to get him local Fame and in 1964 he moved his tavern to where it is today underground right in the middle of the city the tavern has since expanded to eight locations across Chicago so delicious and it's cheap PepsiCo that's Sam sionis nephew of Billy Goats Anna's who's still yelling out their iconic catchphrase back in the 60s my dad and other cooks were mostly Greek some of them came straight from Greece they don't know a lot of English so what they first learned was what was on the menu so when a customer comes in and you they place the order they yell out the order so what do you have cheeseburger next cheeseburger next cheeseburger cheeseburger and it sounded like you were getting yelled at but they were just telling you what was on the menu Billy Goats catchphrase became so well loved by its customers that Saturday Night Live Writer and Billy got regular Donna Bello turned it into a popular sketch on the show's third season from then on Billy Goat gained national fame and even received high praise from food icon Julia Child [Music] it's an institution of Chicago it's a great place to be this place feels like home so it's not anything like different but I appreciate that people recognize the place and they come here to eat and have a good time [Music]

Channel: Food Insider

Views: 5,270,936

Keywords: INSIDER, FOOD INSIDER, legendary eats, chicago, cheeseburger, fast food

Id: fsem5CKn-pk

Length: 5min 35sec (335 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/cookdaddy]

Au cheval has entered the chat

[u/ojthegreat214]

It looks good, but it also looks like its 90% bun.

[u/MKE1969]

Fun fact- this SNL clip is allegedly based on the Billy Goat.

[u/SidAndFinancy]

Portillo's burger is better and they have fries!

[u/tenzo13]

man i love that i get to travel this region so much. guess i’ll have to check this place out next time i’m in chicago thanks!

[u/Underdressed0000]

As a Chicagoan, I went because of the tradition and the SNL skit. However, the burger is nothing special and is mostly bun. I wouldn’t waste your time unless you’re on a John Belushi pilgrimage.

[u/pnmartini]

In this case legendary does not equal great.

Au Cheval, kumas, or Owen & Engine are all great burgers.