The THT Burger at Harding Tavern
Since it opened last spring, Logan Square’s Harding Tavern has become one of my favorite low-key neighborhood places to grab dinner and a beer. So it’s both a blessing and a curse that the unassuming sports bar from the owners of Cafe con Leche is quietly serving one of the best burgers in the city. Happens every time: I kid myself into thinking I can settle for a salad—and then I order the THT Burger instead. The kitchen builds its patty from coarse, house-ground, garlic-infused beef, then tops it with peppery arugula, creamy Brie, and thick, impossibly smoky slices of Nueske’s bacon that are cut to fit the burger so they don’t hang off the sides of the brioche bun. At $11.50 (that’s a la carte—fries sold separately) it’s a splurge for bar food, thank god, because that’s the only thing that keeps me from eating it weekly.