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opprairie.com Dining Out the orland park prairie | October 5, 2017 | 25 The Dish Happy Bites Burger strives for creativity, quality New Tinley Park eatery a labor of love with plans to give back to community Thomas Czaja Contributing Editor The Hawaiian BBQ salmon burger ($9.99) is one of the gourmet burgers on the menu at Happy Bites Burger in Tinley Park. It and features coconut caramelized pineapple, fresh avocado, lettuce, fresh cilantro, pickles, jalapeño and Swiss cheese. Photos by Thomas Czaja/22nd Century Media Happy Bites Burger 8021 183rd St., Suite E, in Tinley Park Hours • 9 a.m.-9 p.m. daily For more information ... Web: www.facebook. com/HappyBitesBurger Phone: (708) 620-8223 When regular customer Michael Garren began to strike up conservations with Charlie Patel at the tobacco shops where he worked in Tinley Park, they often focused on Patel’s dream to open a restaurant. The two became fast friends, and Patel told Garren he envisioned opening a restaurant that sold beef and hot dogs. But Garren suggested Patel shift the signature item of the future restaurant to gourmet burgers — something not as prevalent in the community. Patel took the advice, and he took on Garren to manage the restaurant, which he ended up naming Happy Bites Burger. The merry dining spot opened for business on Sept. 18 in Tinley Park, offering customers gourmet burgers, chicken sandwiches, wings and more. “I asked Mike, and he guided me to make something special, something creative, something new, something different,” Patel said. Garren recalled that Patel worked tirelessly for five years, day in and day out, scraping together enough money to open the restaurant. The premise and goal was good food at a reasonable price. But the dream extends beyond serving quality eats. Happy Bites Burger is only the first step of Patel’s ultimate plan. “His goal after getting enough money from this is he wants to help Tinley Park residents who can’t drive, like older people or handicapped people, and take them to the doctor, to the hair salon and stuff free of charge,” Garren said. “He’s trying to do nonprofit stuff with the money he makes from this.” Patel added, “This is my purpose for opening the restaurant.” Before the duo can get to that point, the focus remains on assembling unique burgers. For example, the chorizo garlic shrimp burger ($7.99) is made with melted provolone cheese with garlic shrimp and paprika mayo. “We wanted something for everybody,” Garren said. “We just wanted to hit all flavors. It’s always going to be different parts of the country, and different parts of different communities around the world we are going to be touching on for inspiration.” Another example of a burger not likely found in other restaurants is the Hawaiian barbecue salmon burger ($9.99), enticing palates with coconut caramelized pineapple, avocado, cilantro, pickles, jalapeño and Swiss cheese. All burgers include fresh-cut fries. Other burger selections include Patel’s favorite, the blue cheese and baconstuffed burger ($7.99), which has blue cheese and bacon mixed into the meat patty. It is topped with parsley and tomato. “Everything is hand-pattied and made the morning of or night before,” Mike said. “Obviously, we have to make some during the day, after we start running low. Our kitchen isn’t very big, and sometimes we need to run to the store to grab more.” Patel makes two visits per day for food to make sure everything is as fresh as can be, he said. That dedication is commonplace for the owner, who constructed the restaurant itself — placing the tiles, building the counters, finishing the walls — on his own, with the helpful advice of Garren, and other family and friends familiar with different aspects of the restaurant industry. The hard work and pride in Happy Bites has paid early dividends, as the first day saw the shop have to close early at 6 p.m. after selling out of 250 burgers and 600 wings, according to Garren. “We’ve been getting a lot of people [walking] in, reading about us on Facebook, and really enjoying the food,” Garren said. “So, it’s a good thing.” While the burgers are the main items on the menu, the wings make for a strong supplementary item to offer customers. “Everybody loves our wings,” Garren said. “So far, we had people come in and tell us they’re not going to [Buffalo Wild Wings] no more. “That makes us feel good; [wings] aren’t even our specialty.” The wings come in nine homemade flavors — fire habanero, Thai chili, garlic Parm, hot original, smokin Q, mild BBQ, Buffalo bliss, teriyaki and honey Q. Ranch and blue cheese are included, and prices varies whether getting seven ($4.99), 10 ($7.99), 16 ($13.99), 20 ($16.99) or 30 pieces ($23.99). Boneless wings, original wing baskets and tenders also are available. Still, the burgers are the highlight. The mushroom burger ($6.99) — smothered with a layer of caramelized onions and garlic mushrooms and finished with provolone cheese, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard has been a big seller, as has the smoky applewood bacon burger ($6.99), which comes with smoky, crispy applewood bacon, as well as grilled onion and cheddar cheese. Rounding out the Top 3 sellers thus far is the juicy Lucy burger ($6.99), stuffed with American cheese inside the patty, with butter, grilled onion, pickle and Worcestershire sauce, according to the owner and manager. Happy Bites likewise has introduced a Burger of the Week selection, further allowing Patel and Garren to experiment with flavors inspired from different places around the globe. The homemade wings (price varies by amount) at Happy Bites Burger come in nine different flavors. “It’s something different, so everybody can try new burgers every week,” Patel said. Garren said eventually they would like to start taking recommendations from guests if they have good ideas for burgers. If the pair agree it is something great, they are willing to give it a whirl. “I like to do a lot of different stuff on social media,” Garren said. “Once we get to have six or seven different weekly specials, then maybe we list them and have people vote [online] to add one permanently to the menu. “You want the customers feeling like they are a part of what you are doing.” While open to additions, the objective is to keep the menu simple yet creative. “It’s definitely a learning experience,” Garren said of the entire process of starting and operating Happy Bites Burger so far. “It’s definitely something we’re excited about, and I think people are excited about it the more they hear about it.”
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