Happy Monday! I hope everyone had a fab weekend! Mario and I spent most of the weekend hibernating on the north side of the city, far away from the downtown drunk and maddening Lolla crowds (as much as we both love live shows, we've adopted a bit of a get off my lawn/old fogey attitude about large crowds). However, we did manage to venture out for a bit to run a few errands and then promptly rewarded ourselves for dealing with the ridiculous traffic with a visit to one of our favorite burger joints. Epic Burger recently introduced the newest addition to their menu and after hearing rave reviews from several trusted burger buddies, we just had to see what the buzz was all about... all in the name of blog research, of course.
As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big red meat eater; after my ten-year stint as a vegetarian and then pescetarian, red meat was the last protein I added back into my diet and the one I was the most hesitant about consuming. In the years since then, I've actually come to appreciate a really good burger; however, I can still be very picky about my meat. As I typically only indulge a few times a month, I obviously want the best - and this is why I've come to love Epic Burger. Open since 2008, the original concept behind the restaurant was simple: to give people an opportunity to eat non-processed, all-natural food at a reasonable price (because we all still want the best for our dollar, right?!). Epic's emphasis is on humanely raised and hormone-free beef, which definitely gives them a leg up over many other fast-food burger joints. Their "A More Mindful Burger" approach even extends beyond their beef offerings, as their chicken sandwiches, turkey burgers, and portobello mushroom sandwiches are also all-natural and additive-free (and totally delicious!).
Meet the BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger: classic beef burger from family farmers in the Midwest topped with Wisconsin one-year aged cheddar cheese, nitrate-free bacon, and sweet BBQ sauce, served on local daily baked buns from Turano Bakery. Their newest offering is truly EPIC!
Just look at that awesome bacon action! This definitely isn't one of those little wimpy burgers in which you get a tiny strip of bacon that doesn't even cover half of the width of the bun. In fact, this goes for all of their toppings - everything is always super fresh and in abundance. Let's be real, no one wants a burger in which you have to ration out the toppings, right?! If I buy a bacon-topped burger, I want bacon in every single bite. This is definitely a burger that delivers!
We each paired our burgers with a side of their Fresh Cut Fries with Sea Salt.
As always, I just had to request a side of Epic Sauce (the perfect dipping sauce for fries) - it's dangerously addictive!
To celebrate the release of their BBQ Bacon Cheddar Burger, Epic Burger has graciously offered the chance for one of my lucky readers to win a $50 gift card, good at any of their seven locations. To enter the giveaway, simply follow the directions in the Rafflecopter widget below. The contest ends at 12:00am on Saturday, 8/8. Detailed instructions on how to redeem the gift card will be sent to the winner via email.
I love everything on my burger! Onions, tomatoes, avocado, peppers! The more the better!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a traditionalist, as I tend to gravitate toward ketchup, mustard, and cheese. However, I'll take anything with giant slabs of bacon! ;-)
ReplyDeleteI love tomatoes and cheese and lettuce and dill pickles.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite burger in Chicago is the Au Cheval burger with bacon and a fried egg, so I might have to go with that! I'm also a sucker for the traditional tomato, lettuce, ketchup, mustard.
ReplyDeleteI love the traditional stuff, lettuce, tomato, onion, and either ketchup and mustard, or mayo. ;) Also love bleu burgers! Would like to someday try one with a fried egg on top - never that before. :)
ReplyDeleteI love avocado, bacon,tomato, onion
ReplyDeleteEpic burger is my fave! And their fries beat Five Guys hands down.
ReplyDeleteGrilled onions and avocado are my fav burger toppings!
ReplyDeleteLooks pretty epic. Bacon and avocado are a dream team on a burger!
ReplyDeleteMy newest fav topping is candied jalapeƱo bacon and guac.
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