Saturdays are Made for Burgers and Beer

Yesterday I walked outside my door and right onto the St. Charles streetcar for the ride downtown. After visiting about a dozen galleries and planning shoots for next Saturday evening's art walk my stomach began to make those noises which translated mean, "you're not going to make it home before filling me with food and at least one beer."

Remembering my excellent Christmas Day lunch at John Besh's Lüke, I headed that way and found an empty stool at the end of the bar. "Heather" the bartender took one look at me and said, "you're getting the Lüke Burger and which beer do you want to go with that?" Now, any time a waiter has ESP THAT good, I know it's crazy to resist. So, I went with her suggestion of the burger voted by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of America's best. The combination of Allan Benton's bacon, caramelized onions, tomatoes, Emmenthaler Swiss cheese and house-made fries was better than anything I could have expected. Pairing it with the subtle robustness of Lüke's own amber Alt beer made it one of my new favorite weekend meals.