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Community Corner

Patch Portrait: Serving it 'Simple' at Edzo's Burger

A profile of Evanston businessman Eddie Lakin.

When Eddie Lakin found himself unemployed after 15 years of running the kitchens of other people's restaurants, Lakin decided to become his own boss.

"While I was looking for jobs I was constantly seeing storefronts that were vacant and for lease and I kept seeing ads for restaurants that were for sale. This was the recession, right at the fall of '08 when everything was crashing." Lakin said.

In October 2009, Lakin opened up Edzo's Burger Shop on Sherman Avenue in Evanston. The location previously housed Pita Pete's.

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"I don't think I would've been driven to do it if the circumstances hadn't come along," he said.

Since then, Edzo's has garnered attention from The New York Times, Time Out Chicago, The Chicago Tribune, and Bon Appetite. When away from the kitchen, Lakin is an active blogger, giving customers insights on chef-dom and his day-to-day operations.

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A key ingredient to the restaurant's success is its quick service and hot-dog-stand persona, which Lakin experienced growing up in the Chicago area.  

"I'm more about making the perfect simple burger, rather than piling all sorts of stuff on top of the burger to make it good," he said. "We're not using anything exceptionally special. We get the upgraded beefs from local farmers, the rest of it is just using fresh ingredients instead of stuff that is preprocessed."

And while Lakin keeps Edzo's rooted in standards similar to the high-end restaurants he previously worked for, he focuses on keeping a better work-personal life balance. Open from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily, Lakin makes sure he's home every night for his two children.

"I've been a chef for 15 years and I've done all my time working 80 or 90 hours a week and never seeing any of my friends or my wife." 

And while Edzo's has become a popular neighborhood joint, Lakin maintains an endearing humility. 

"I consider myself still a chef, but I don't put a lot of cache in the word either. It's a basic descriptive work that means the guy that runs the kitchen.

This week's Patch Portraits was produced and edited by Lisa Cisneros, Philip Downie,  Jacob Nelson and Allison Williams. Check back on Mondays for the next installment.

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