Review - Kuma's Korner

I recently had a chance to go to a little restaurant I had never been to before by the name of Kuma’s Korner. Kuma’s is a gourmet burger restaurant with a heavy metal theme. I first heard about it from a friend of mine who said they had great burgers and was a lot of fun. I figured what the hell, I like burgers, let’s do it!

Kuma’s Korner is located at 2900 West Belmont Ave. right on the Northwest corner of Belmont and N Francisco, on the north side of Chicago. It is literally just what it says, a corner and if you drive by too fast you might miss it. I think it might have been a neighborhood tavern at one time but now serves as the restaurant it is. We got there early on the suggest of my friend as they don’t have a lot of seating and if you go too late you end up waiting a long time to get in to eat. We got there before it opened and were about the 10th group in line. I was actually expecting a place much larger so I was surprised by the size of the place. Because we were early we got in as soon as the doors opened but even at that we needed to sit in the patio section as the main dinning room was already full. Not a problem though, it was a great morning and the patio was nice and airy.

We passed through the main dinning room which only had about 10 tables or so which were on the right for seating. On the left and running the entire length of the room was an old looking long bar. The main dinning room felt more like a neighborhood bar than a restaurant. Between that patrons sitting down already and the hustle and bustle of the staff we made our way through the dinning room pretty quickly so I didn’t get to take too much of the room in. What I did see was some very unique artwork on the wall. Although there was more ‘mainstream’ decorations the fetish artwork caught my eye as they seemed kind of out of place in a restaurant. Of course that’s for a ‘mainstream’ restaurant. Here it works. I would just question the want to take your kids here. I can just imagine the questions from kids about the nudes and fetish work. I didn’t see any kids but the restaurant isn’t just for adults. I guess it’s a parents’ call on that one.

We went out to the patio which is enclosed by a wrought iron gate. Kind of gave me the feeling we were actually sitting in some ones backyard. We were the first out there so we got the table of our choice. My buddy is a bit lighter skinned then me so we had to make some seating adjustments but shortly we were good to go. Our waitress was a pretty young lady with some very colorful tattoos. Seems body art and piercings are big with the staff as everyone I saw had some kind of body modification of some type. Let me add in that I too have some tattoos so this didn’t bother me at all, just an observation. Part of the ‘charm’ of Kuma’s is the staff acts a little rude. It’s all just part of the experience and I got to be the brunt of that. Our waitress started off by asking us if we wanted to start with a couple of drinks. We decided to go with some beers. My buddy likes to sample different stuff so he left it up to her discretion. I have more simple tastes when it comes to beer. I usually just get a Miller Lite. When I ordered mine my waitress told me, ‘We only have real beer here.’ Gave me a chuckle. I too left it to her discretion and asked if she could just keep it something that wasn’t too heavy. She brought me a ‘Flywheel Bright Lager’ made by Metropolitan Brewing. It was very good and I told her later that she had made a great choice. I’ll definitely be having that beer again in the future. By the way here's a little funny side note; Pabst Blue Ribbon is on their menu. Real beer? Makes me chuckle again.

Ok so this is a restaurant we’re talking about here so let’s get down to the food. We had an appetizer of Mac & Cheese and each of us had our own burgers we selected. I’m going to tell you about the burger first and then get back to the appetizer. Since it was my first time at Kuma’s I got their ‘Famous Kuma Burger’, first one on their menu. My buddy got the Kaijo Burger. His came with bacon, Bleu cheese and frizzled onions. Mine came with bacon, cheddar cheese and a fried egg. We both believe that bacon makes everything better. My blog, my rules, you couldn’t convince me otherwise. I went that extra step and had the fried egg on mine as I wanted to take as many animals with me as I could. I know, I know, I’m bad, but the burger was really good! All of their burgers are served on a pretzel roll instead of a bun. Gives them a different taste.

I like my beef cooked rare and when the waitress asked me how I wanted it done I said so much. Fact of the matter is a lot of places do not cook beef as rare as they used to. So I told her ‘as rare as you dare’ knowing that most places don’t. Kuma’s did. I got a nice rare burger. Not raw as some places get that wrong as well. There is a difference and if you don’t know what that is, don’t cook beef. As I said though mine was great. I enjoyed it very much. It was served with either French fries or home made potato chips. I went with the chips and was not sorry. I’ve said before I’m kind of a fry snob so I didn’t want to take a chance. The chips were great and it rounded my sandwich off just right. Kuma’s advertise that they have the ‘Best Burgers in Chicago.’ Ok let me say this so everyone gets it right. It was a REALLY good burger but I can’t say the best. I’ve had some better. Now don’t get me wrong, that’s not saying I didn’t like the burger. I did. I would go back there in a minute for another. So while not the best, it was super good.

So let me go back a minute and address the appetizer we had. Kuma’s has ‘Make Your Own Mac & Cheese.’ What you do is pick out ingredients to add to a very large serving of Mac & Cheese. You can choose from; Bacon, Prosciutto, Andouille, Chicken, Roasted Red Peppers, Caramelized Onions, Sun Dried Tomatoes, Broccoli, Peas, Mushrooms, Scallions and Sweet Corn. We ordered ours with bacon (big surprise there huh?) and Andouille sausage. They chop the two up to very small pieces and mix it in with your Mac & Cheese. Ok let me just say this stuff is awesome! My friend recommended it before we got there and man was he right! I loved it! I ate so much I was afraid I wouldn’t have room for my burger, however I did. I hurt like hell later but it was a good kind of hurt. This stuff is so good that I am seriously thinking about ordering that next time as my meal. It’s awesome! I can’t do it justice; the only way you could know is if you try it.

Good beer, great burger, fun service, incredible appetizer and terrific company I’m giving this one a big fat 10! Go enjoy the fun. Make sure you did what I did and take someone with you that knows how to have fun. And if you ever get a chance to go with me………HANDS OFF MY MAC & CHEESE!