Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

next time, walk across the street to Fred's - where they serve strawberry butter with soft and delicious cinnamon raisin bread (or cheese muffins on my favorite days) while you wait for your reasonably priced brunch without the hour wait.

I applaud the effort. Yes, Stage is foremost about Polish food, but it also a good part greasy spoon and one should expect a reasonable chance to find a satisfying or perhaps craveable burger. I don't blame Nick for hoping he'd find a hidden jewel of a burger even if it's not the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Stage.

But alas Nick's review is pretty on the mark. The folks at Stage definitely care about serving good food and use quality ingredients -- that's why, for instance, they buy fresh ground beef daily. However, when it comes to burgers they are missing either the right know how or sensibility. The only thing I disagree with Nick on is the bun, it's not any good either. Soft is good but this bun is all fluff. It has the cotton candy effect, disintegrating on your tongue.

So yeah, Stage misses the mark on the burgers. The non-Slavic dishes are wild cards. Some things they get right, and other things they don't quite understand. But still Stage is one of my favorite places for all the things that are on the mark, from the food to the ambiance and even, with my penchant for punishment, the impossibly uncomfortable seating. I love Stage for the meat pieroges with onions and sour cream, the keilbassa, the endearingly simple boiled beef with horseradish sauce, the solid mashed potatoes, the equally solid boiled potatoes, the inexplicably awesome roast chicken, and the knockout beets.

First of all, Stage Diner is Ukrainian, not Polish.....that accent was probably Ukrainian.

I used to have lunch here every week when I lived in the E Village.....their best is a cold borscht they only serve in the summer.....yummm. Like a purple gazpacho.......delicious and sweet.

then god forbid that we have a burger site review their burgers. if it wasn't for nick's previous reviews i probably never would have tried the burger at veselka. and i'm really glad i did.

in regards to simon's comment, if they are getting ground beef delivered fresh daily that suggests they take their burgers somewhat seriously. if it was just an afterthought, or thrown bone, why wouldn't they simply skimp and offer up frozen patties of similar design.

simon is simple

You're talking about the Stage Restaurant, right? Not the Stage Deli. Two different animals.

File this one under "missing the point." The Stage isn't known for it's burgers. It's the equivalent of going to the Peking Duck House and writing a review of their wonton soup. Who cares really if it isn't done right? It's not their specialty.

That is a heart breaker. I could actually hear myself scream out on the inside "No" as well as I read through your story even though I had a feeling that I knew the inevitable doom to come.

After seeing this list, my friend Barkis and I ventured to Howell's in Dearborn. Apparently so did a bunch of other burgermaniacs because the wait was challenging. But the burger was worth the wait, for the most part. It was 8 ounces of griddled deliciousness. However, the bun wasn't quite up to the task, and just barely made it to the finish. It's a good alternative to Miller's. Missing from the list is a great drive-in burger from Blue Sky drive-in just west of Metro Airport on Huron River Drive. They are mouth-wateringly delicious. I'll gladly pay you Tuesday...