Rhapsody

Rhapsody
(312) 786-9911
65 E. Adams St.
Chicago, IL 60603


I knew that if I waited long enough, the salmon burger that TOC recommended at Rhapsody would disappear. Being a avowed salmon-hater, I was not looking forward to this one. But indeed, three years later, Rhapsody had the common decency to change their menu and replace the salmon burger with something else (TOC recommendation be damned!) We could have skipped the place altogether, but the “dry aged” burger with slaw remoulade slaw, onion jam and cypress grove cheddar advertised on their website menu sounded worth checking out.

We dined in the lounge, which is a very inviting setting. Definitely caught the pre-symphony crowd, which consisted of a slew of Lois Weisberg contemporaries that all looked worthy of appearing on advanced style. We started off with the duck nachos (that the online menu lists as accompanied by goat horn peppers, butter kasse cheese, cilantro and black beans…does that not look great in print?), which were too intriguing to pass up. I was a little underwhelmed, not expecting the cheese to be as thin and, well, buttery as it was. Also expected a bit more zip from the peppers, but what do I know about goat horn peppers...



Then it was time for the burger. Eyeing the creation from both the top and bottom gave it the appearance of this famous old-woman/young-woman illusion. It looked much more appetizing from above, but from the bottom the weight of the burger, it's relative greasiness, and the moistness of the other ingredients really seeped through the bun.




I liked the burger in the beginning, but the more it went on, the worse it got. By the end, mine had completely crumbled and was totally disjointed (for the record, Nat's stayed in tact). Also, the lettuce made no sense. Yes, I know that lettuce is customary, but the remoulade/slaw/jam combination, compounded by lettuce just made the whole dish a bit "softcore" for my tastes. Also, it didn't taste "dry-aged" as advertised, but to be honest I couldn't tell you what a dry-aged burger is supposed to taste like.




The fries were of reasonable quality, but were totally killed by the excess of parsely and salt sprinkled on them. We are talking copious amounts of salt, like, crystals all over my fingers. The sad, but truthful epitaph to this visit is that I felt really sick when I got home. And I felt sick the next day as well. Rhapsody has some intriguing things going on with their menu, and I would certainly hit them up for a drink before the symphony, but otherwise I can see no real reason for returning.