Thu 20 Apr 2006
I’m a big fan of Wine Spectator, both the magazine and the web site. I enjoy wine immensely and I enjoy reading about famous restaurants and the various cutting edge meals being prepared in them. I’ve been to a few really good restaurants in my time and have had some outstanding meals. But the stature of a restaurant needn’t always be rated by stars in a guide book or the pedigree of the chefs. Case in point, Gunner Buc’s in Mattoon, Illinois. By anyone’s standard it would be considered a “hole in the wall.” It’s a sports bar with the atmosphere of a tool shed. It sits along a main road surrounded by soybean fields and natural gas pumps. You order your meal at the grill and then find a seat. You must order something to drink with dinner, be it a soda or a beer. You can hardly look in any direction without seeing sports on a TV, unless you’re looking at the bar or the wall of slot machines. But, atmosphere aside, Gunner Buc’s makes the best damn hamburgers you’ve ever eaten. I’ve had burgers all over the world, and none can match the burgers at Gunner Buc’s. Just goes to prove that you don’t need to look in a high-end cuisine guide to find memorable food. Sometimes you just need to head down to the corner bar.
April 21st, 2006 at 7:45 am
Well said! Man, I used to *love* that place when I lived in Charleston. I still try to make it a point to stop in there whenever I’m down that way.
October 1st, 2006 at 7:02 pm
[…] I’ve raved about Gunner Buc’s before on my other blog. They make the best hamburgers in the world, hands down. And to make it the deal sweeter, they’re cheap. You can get two large burgers and a large order of very good fries for a tad over $8. Another $5 for a couple of beers and you have an outstanding, inexpensive meal. We sat out in their screened-in porch and watched the Patriots kick Bengal butt. The weather was perfect for it. Inside there are several large screen TVs and several smaller ones. We try to avoid sitting inside due to the smoke, but when the place is not packed (virtually anytime except Friday and Saturday night), the smoke isn’t bad. […]