Burger time: Birchwood Kitchen

A man cannot live on burgers alone. So while the Great Burgerelli spends much time eating and pondering burgers, I occasionally introduce other foods to my diet. For instance: sandwiches. Thus, I am not unfamiliar with Birchwood Kitchen, the latest local restaurant to dabble in burgers.

Birchwood, a counter-service BYOB that opened four months ago in Wicker Park, specializes in sandwiches. And the leap from sandwich to burger is not so great. What is a burger, really, but a grilled-meat sandwich served on a specific type of sandwich bread? So I arrived for Birchwood’s inaugural burger night this week with grand hopes for the sort of high-quality meat and fresh, artisan toppings to which I have become accustomed on Birchwood sandwiches. I was not disappointed.

BURGERELLI’S BREAKDOWN

The burger: A half-pound of beef simply dripping with burger juice. And although the Great Burgerelli usually limits his focus to beef, I ask you to indulge me for a moment while I speak of turkey burgers. Ground turkey is a griller’s nemesis. It will shrivel and dry up if you so much as look at it wrong. But somehow, miraculously, Birchwood’s turkey burger remains unfailingly plump and juicy throughout.

The bun: If this burger stumbles at all, it is here. The Labriola sesame-seed bun is serviceable and nicely toasted, but not flawless. The most pronounced problem? The bottom half is too thin to stand up to the incredible juiciness of these burgers.

The fixings: Simply divine. The burger rests on a generous smear of garlic aioli and is topped with melted white cheddar and applewood-smoked bacon, plus a disc of heirloom tomato. And here again I must make mention of the delightful turkey burger: spicy chipotle-sage aioli underneath, with pickled onions, tomato and mesclun greens on top.

Everything else: Careful readers know by now that the Great Burgerelli loves his fries—the more French, the better. So I was let down to receive the standard Birchwood chips with my burger. These are mighty chips, however—the sort you can hear inside your head when you crunch into one.

Burgerelli’s bottom line: A fine burger, indeed. Plan your first visit for a Wednesday night in August, when Birchwood offers a "buy one, eat two" deal (a.k.a. two-for-one burger night).

Other essentials: Birchwood Kitchen serves burgers 5-9 p.m. Tuesday-Friday. Three burgers (beef, $9; turkey, $8; salmon, $10) are available nightly.

The Great Burgerelli is a connoisseur of burgers. E-mail him with suggestions for his next meal. gburgerelli@tribune.com

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