BEST BURGERS

Smashburger

2161 Chatham Road, 787-3700 One bite into a burger and you will easily taste how newly-opened Smashburger was able to blow into town and snatch the crown of best burger. Smashburger offers grilled sandwiches with “fresh, never-frozen, ground beef,” but so do others. What makes Smashburger unique is that burger lovers can choose to have their sandwich on the classic butter-tossed artisan bun or opt for the multi-grain, spicy chipotle, or pretzel bun. The burger joint also offers a variety of unusual toppings, such as fried egg, guacamole, garlic mushrooms, fried pickles, cucumbers, bleu cheese and goat cheese. We recommend the Spicy Baja burger, which comes with pepper jack cheese, guacamole, lettuce, tomato, spicy chipotle mayo and fresh jalapeno served on the spicy chipotle bun, or the Windy City burger with melted cheddar cheese, haystack onions, lettuce, tomato and spicy mustard served on a pretzel bun. But don’t leave without trying the sweet potato fries, which are tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic. These were so delicious that we returned for another visit just for the fries. Runner-up: Krekel’s Custards and Hamburgers