Home · What to eat · The Burger, Fries, and One Vegetable Side — What Actually Works at Au Cheval
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what to order at au cheval
Au Cheval built its name on a specific cheeseburger and duck-fat fries. Order those, add one green thing, and skip the rest of the menu that tries too hard.
Get the single cheeseburger with bacon, the fries, and either the kale salad or roasted vegetables. The burger is what the kitchen does best — beef cooked in clarified butter, American cheese that melts properly, and thick bacon that carries smoke without overpowering. Everything else on the menu exists to fill space.
Best choices
Single cheeseburger with bacon and a fried eggThe patty cooks in clarified butter which crisps the edges while keeping the center loose, the American cheese actually melts into the meat instead of sitting on top, and the fried egg adds richness without making the burger impossible to hold. The bacon is thick-cut and carries real smoke.
Duck-fat friesThey fry twice in duck fat which creates a shell that stays crisp even as they cool, and the fat carries flavor that vegetable oil cannot. They are not a novelty — the duck fat is doing structural work.
Kale saladRaw kale dressed with lemon and olive oil, which cuts through the butter and fat from everything else you are eating. It is not enough food to be a meal but it is enough to reset your palate between bites of burger.
Roasted seasonal vegetablesUsually carrots, beets, or squash roasted until the sugars caramelize, which gives you sweetness and texture that nothing else on the table has. They are not trying to be virtuous — they are actually seasoned.- 5Chocolate malt cake if you are sharingDense chocolate cake with malt powder folded in, which tastes like a malted milkshake in solid form. It is rich enough that two people will struggle to finish it, which is the correct portion after a burger.
Watch out for
- The double or triple burger is a stunt — the patties are too thick to cook evenly and the stack becomes structural engineering instead of food you can eat with your hands
- The bone marrow and the foie gras are expensive add-ons that make the burger greasy without adding clarity of flavor — you are paying for luxury ingredients that disappear into the beef
- The scotch egg sounds interesting but arrives lukewarm with breading that has gone soft, and it is too heavy to eat before a burger
- The wait is real and they do not take reservations for parties under six — if you arrive at seven on a weekend expect two hours, and the bar is too crowded to wait comfortably
Depending on the day
You are going for breakfast or brunch
Get the hash with a fried egg and the bacon on the side. The hash is crispy potatoes with enough surface area to stay crunchy, and the egg yolk turns it into a meal. The pancakes are fine but unremarkable — this is not a pancake kitchen.
You do not eat red meat
Au Cheval is the wrong restaurant — the kitchen is built around beef and everything else is an afterthought. If you are stuck here, the kale salad and roasted vegetables together make a plate, but you are paying burger prices for sides.
Also asked
What should I order at Au Cheval in New York City?
The New York location serves the same burger and fries as Chicago, cooked the same way in clarified butter and duck fat. The menu is nearly identical and the kitchen standards are consistent. Order exactly what you would in Chicago — single cheeseburger with bacon, fries, and one green side. The New York space is louder and more cramped, but the food is not different.
Where does Au Cheval get its ingredients from?
Au Cheval does not advertise its sourcing and the burger does not depend on rare-breed beef or special provenance — it depends on technique. The beef is ground fresh daily and comes from a standard supplier, the American cheese is commercial, and the bacon is thick-cut but not artisanal. What makes the burger work is clarified butter, proper seasoning, and a flat-top griddle that stays screaming hot. The duck fat for the fries is the only ingredient that matters, and it is pure rendered duck fat, not a blend.
The dishes behind this
Most people arrive at Au Cheval thinking they need to order creatively or try something unexpected, and they end up with bone marrow they do not need or a triple burger they cannot finish. The restaurant became famous for one thing — a cheeseburger cooked in clarified butter with American cheese and thick bacon — and the rest of the menu exists because a restaurant cannot serve only one item. The mistake is treating Au Cheval like a place with hidden gems. It is not. It is a place that does one thing at an extremely high level and everything else competently.
The burger works because of clarified butter, which has a higher smoke point than whole butter and crisps the beef without burning. The American cheese melts into the patty instead of sitting on top in a solid sheet, and the thick bacon carries smoke without tasting like a campfire. The fried egg, if you add it, breaks over the burger and turns the whole thing into a rich, runny mess that you have to eat with your hands. This is not a gourmet burger trying to prove anything — it is a diner burger executed with precision. The bun is squishy, the vegetables are minimal, and the beef is the center of the plate.
The fries matter because duck fat is not a gimmick. It creates a crust that stays intact even as the fries cool, and it carries a flavor that vegetable oil or beef tallow cannot replicate. The fries are double-fried, which means they cook once to soften, then again to crisp, and the duck fat does both jobs without breaking down. You do not need aioli or special salt — the fries are already finished. The kale salad or roasted vegetables are not virtuous health moves, they are structural — something acidic or sweet to cut through the fat and reset your mouth between bites.
The room is loud, the wait is long, and the menu has more items than you need to consider. People order the scotch egg or the foie gras because they are there, not because they are good decisions. The chocolate malt cake is worth splitting if you have room, but most people do not after a burger and fries. Au Cheval is not a place to explore — it is a place to order the thing they are known for and let the kitchen do what it does best.
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