Memorable | One of the Best
Green Gables | Smashed Crispyburger On Illinois Route 66
Review by: Michael Stern
Lace-Edged Hamburger
Central Illinois hamburgers demand special attention. In particular, I’m talking about the smashed crispyburger. A sphere of meat hits the grill. The cook smashes down on it with a spatula. Enough smashing turns it lacy-crisp around its edges. Plenty of fat infuses the meat, so no matter how hard the spatula pushed down it it, it remains juicy. But its thinness suggests that any hungry appetite make it a double. I suggest a double with cheese, and with pickle, tomato, onion, ketchup, and mustard.
A Juicy Package
That’s the way to do it at Green Gables on the shore of Lake Bloomington. Paper swaddling wraps each smashed crispyburger presented to the customer. The paper causes the whole package to steam into a great savory mound of goodness by the time you unwrap it. What a fine, messy handful of food!
On the Side
Side dishes do their job, but the excellent hamburger eclipses them. Every one of them comes from the fryer: deep fried cheese balls, deep fried corn nuggets, deep fried mozzarella sticks, cauliflower, onion rings, etc. Hudson, Illinois is two hours southwest of Chicago (along old Route 66), so Italian beef has a place on the menu. It’ll do, but it cannot compare to the smashed crispyburgers that put Green Gables on the Roadfood map.
Polymorphous Eat Place
The place itself is an absolutely hypnotic kaleidoscope of culinary genres. Up front, you will find a dark tavern with a pool table. Behind that room, a brightly lit grocery. The grocery is no supermarket, that’s for sure. But look at the way shelves of products are precisely marshaled on shelves like they’re in a museum of contemporary Jell-O packages and detergent bottles. Back here, you can buy liquor or fishing bait, too.
Superlatives!
The hyperbolic menu tells customers they are in the “resort capital of the world.” And they are about to experience “the best food known to man.”
Directions & Hours
Information
Price | $ |
Seasons | All |
Meals Served | Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Late Night |
Credit Cards Accepted | No |
Alcohol Served | Yes |
Outdoor Seating | No |
What To Eat
Green Gables | Smashed Crispyburger On Illinois Route 66 Recipes
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One Response to “Green Gables | Smashed Crispyburger On Illinois Route 66”
claudette vaughn
May 28th, 2022
On may 9 2022 it burned down in a fire. Big loss for the community. Hopefully they will rebuild.