Biscuits are unforgiving partners. No matter what you decide to top them with—great quantities of melty cheese, fatty bacon, breakfast sausage, etc.—if the biscuits are dry, chalky, and crumbly, the sandwich will suck. There's just nothing you can do about. But if the biscuit in the question happens to be tender and flaky—like Old Town Social's remarkable version is—then just about anything will taste good in between its buttery layers. More

Properly encased in a surprisingly well-seasoned beer batter, these onions rings are uniform in size- job one in ensuring crispy-crunchiness across the plate. DIY steam vents pock the surface, creating textural contrast and providing sweet release for the onion's inherent moisture. More

For all the fancy reinterpretations of brunch classics I have tried since the start of this column, sometimes it's nice to remember what prompted my love of that special time in-between breakfast and lunch. Old Town Social serves up a basic no-frills breakfast dish that prompted me to remember this past weekend why the classics are just as important as their modern breakfast bedfellows. More

Though this column has only been going on for a few weeks, I've of course been eating sausage all year long. In the spirit of year-end lists, then, here are some highlights from 2011 that are worth a detour to try. More

There's a Western-style cattle ranch with 1,000 acres of pasture less than 100 miles from the Chicago Loop. We're talking Billy Crystal and Bruno Kirby in City Slickers stuff here. The land itself is the ecosystem and living quarters for Quarter Circle Seven Ranch's nearly 600 grass-fed steers. More

Old Town Social offers two different burgers, both of which start with a half-pound of grass-fed beef, ground daily in the restaurant. The Basic burger comes with nothing but pickle, lettuce and tomato (PLT). But there's no reason to get that when the Served Our Way is on the menu. That one comes with house-made bacon, cheddar cheese, PLT, a fried egg, and garlic aioli. More