Chicago - May 31, 2006

Mary, Mary Quite Contrary

Hamburger Mary’s Opens

When you were little, it seemed like everything you really enjoyed got you ten Hail Marys at confession.

Well brush up, because you’re about to get into a heap of hot water at Hamburger Mary’s. The legendary San Francisco chain, made popular in the ’70s by the city’s burgeoning gay leather community, opens tomorrow in Andersonville.

All kitsch all the time, the joint features brash lavender walls displaying an array of Mary posters (as in the Virgin, the Queen, Tyler Moore, and Something About). The resin-covered mahogany bar holds Mary’s keepsakes (buttons, candy wrappers, jewelry, postcards), and Mary’s second-floor Attic will host nightly performances (karaoke, drag, and stand-up) starting in July.

As for the food, it includes Cala-Mary (batter-fried squid with mary-nara sauce) and Buffy the Hamburger Slayer (a half-pound Angus burger topped with red wine and enough garlic to kill anyone you breathe on).

And, if afterward, you’re feeling blasphemous for liking a chain restaurant so much? You can always take that to confession.

Hamburger Mary’s, 5400 North Clark Street, at Balmoral Avenue (773-784-6969 or hamburgermaryschicago.com).

  Kitschy