We all need another good burger in our lives, right?
Carol Deptolla on Shorewood’s Crave Cafe
It’s not weird to look adoringly at a photo of a hamburger, is it?
That’s what I caught myself doing this week: studying the contours of The Standard burger from Crave Cafe in Shorewood, a tiny 12-seat, counterservice burger stand that opened in October — the way the cheddar cheese melted over the burger’s browned, uneven edges, how the brioche bun reflected light where it emerged from shadow, the trail of house Thousand Island dressing spilling over the lettuce and tomato.
Anyway, I think we’re soul mates now.
Which is fine, because we all need another good burger in our lives, right?
The menu is 11 burgers long — well, 11 sandwiches long. There’s a soft-shell crab BLT (two fried crabs, $9) and the amazing non-burger Japanese Katsu Burger ($7), a thick, juicy, crunchy slab of panko-crumb-crusted pork loin that not even this substantial bun can contain.
On it, some slaw, melted American cheese and flavor-enhancing katsu sauce. It is a fine, fine sandwich, and I’m stunned at how inexpensive it is.
Fries are extra, but they’re only $2 for a small (not that small) and $3 for a large (ridiculously large).
They’re thin and crisp and evoke the fries of Mickey D’s, which is high praise, of course. For an extra 50 cents, they can be ordered in flavors that are dusted over them, such as cheddar, if you would like your fries to remind you of Cheetos. To me, the flavor of potato and salt is enough.
The fries are served in Chinese takeout containers, clever and appropriate, because Crave Cafe’s owner is David Wu, who also operates East Garden Chinese Restaurant on the next corner, the restaurant founded in 1983 by his parents, Wendy and Sik Kin.
He put the opening of Crave on hold while he streamlined the menu at East Garden and added regional Chinese dishes to the Chinese-American menu.
It’s also appropriate that he’s named David, because his little Crave Cafe will be going up against a Goliath of sorts. A burger-and-ice-cream spot called the Ruckus has been on the verge of opening about a halfmile up Oakland Ave., owned by the three owners of Colectivo coffee.
While the shiny, modern eye candy that is the Ruckus has been going up, Wu has been quietly serving his burgers in a storefront that’s modest, even with works on the walls by local artists (and a little chilly in winter, without a vestibule at the door to block winds).
What’s more, he’s been doing burgers right.
Let’s start with the meat, because if this part’s wrong, not much is going to be right.
The patties are one-third pound Angus and cooked to medium, unless you tell the staff otherwise; it will take around 10 or 15 minutes for them to prepare your order, depending on how busy the cafe is.
Those patties are seasoned well, with the bite of salt splayed across the patty, and they’re juicy; it’s clear they’ve spent time in their collective juices on a flattop grill, what I think is the best way to cook a burger aside from a frying pan.
(A burger on one visit wasn’t as forward in its seasoning, nor was it luxuriating in as much juice as usual, but that seemed a one-off.)
And you can see by the uneven edges that the burgers are hand-made — so much better than dense, mass-produced patties.
The patty perches on a big, shiny brioche bun that’s so well-toasted you can hear a gentle crunch as you bite through it (provided you order a burger without too many sound-muffling toppings).
The Standard isn’t one of those minimal-topping burgers; it’s a glorious, two-handed mess, with the lettuce and tomato threatening to slide out with the Thousand Island. I’ll usually forgo lettuce and tomato on a burger for that reason — and that they seem to dilute the flavor — but the romaine provides texture here.
Altogether, it’s one of my favorite burgers around town. The Standard, too, seems ridiculously cheap at $6.
Crave offers a basic hamburger ($4) and cheeseburger ($5) and for the more adventurous, the Hamburguesa ($6), mildly spicy with pickled jalapeno slices and chipotle aioli, and the very spicy Korean BBQ Burger ($7), topped with a Korean-style barbecue glaze, seasoned mayonnaise, American cheese, slaw and fresh-tasting, heat-throwing kimchi.
Wu lived near Los Angeles for a couple of years, he said, and he wanted to re-create flavors he enjoyed there on burgers back in Shorewood.
In between the basic and the spicy burgers are the very savory mushroom-and-Swiss burger ($6) and vegetarian Shroom Burger ($6), with caramelized onions and garlic aioli that compound the flavor of a grilled Portobello cap.
In a little fridge on the counter are bottles of water and sodas by the can — Coke, Sprite and some surprises, like Sidra, the Taiwanese apple soda; Hey Song, the root-beerish sarsaparilla soda also from Taiwan; and Señorial, the sangria-flavored soda made in Mexico.
Crave has a few basic salads, too, and Wu plans to expand the menu as the little restaurant becomes more established.
I’m curious to see what else he comes up with, but really, the menu of sandwiches is pretty great the way it is.