Jackson Ave Pub

What a goddamned shame...
It wouldn't have taken much to move the star count to 3, 4 or even 5.  And this is a place that you really want to love, if for no other reason then to prevent it from becoming some corporate concept sink hole.
Obviously, the location and ambience rock, as they did with it's two predecessors-The Red Door and The Grumpy.  The service was attentive and friendly, and the beer selection, while not quite on par with The Grumpy, is excellent.

It's the food that was disappointing.  Both my grass fed Ceasar Burger and my wife's grass fed whatever burger (shame on me-I don't remember what she ordered) were appreciably overcooked.  I ordered mine medium, thinking that traditional medium is characterized by a juicy, pink center.  It was more like the venison steaks we used to choke down at my college roommate's Grandmother's house on the occasional Sunday afternoon when he could either black mail or bribe me into joining him for an early dinner, i.e.  it was grilled into submission, and  resembled something that was synthesized in a back room chemistry lab.  When I pointed out to the waitress that my burger was more on par with well done, she agreed but offered not so much as a "Sorry, I'll let the chef know"  which is all that would have been required to make  me a happy shiny. The fried egg on my ceasar burger was also vulcanized to the point of being a liability rather than an asset to the burger.  The kid's Mac and Cheese wasn't very good, but the Bleu Cheese fries were delicious. Also, it's expensive-$65 with tip for two burgers, a kid's mac and cheese, bleu cheese fries, and 2 Lil Sumpin Sumpin Ales.

I dropped in for a weekday lunch, and found they have a nice selection of seventeen 1/2 lb burgers for lunch.   To boot, the $11 burgers are only $8 til 4pm (grass fed beef is another $1).  I had the Smokey burger (with arugula and chipotle aioli), medium, and that's just the way it came.  My colleagues asked for the Classic medium well and a Spicy medium, and they got them as requested, and they were all good.  The burger selections are nice (see photo of menu).  I'll be back to have a beer or two and they have a nice selection on tap and in bottles.  Be forewarned though - it's a smaller space, so probably avoid peak periods if you don't want to stand.  This place deserves it's good 4 star ratings and I liked it.  It's right next to Tango to the west and I can't remember what was there before.

I don't drink but their burgers are fantastic.  I am a sucker for pretzel buns.  I haven't had the same burger twice.  The bacon wrapped jalapeno's burned my butt.  
I've been back 3 or 4 times now.  Brought my wife, colleagues and a couple of buddy's.  They all enjoyed it as much as I did.