A better 'Big Mac' at Gold Cash Gold

We were chatting with Adam Verville yesterday, one of the talented chefs working in the kitchen at Gold Cash Gold. He mentioned that they had come up with a "Big Mac" available during lunch service, and we were all ears. First of all, because we're old as dirt, we can remember the actual 1974 TV commercial describing the ingredients: "Two all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions – on a sesame seed bun." And second of all, because it was Dan Maurer's mad dream to build a better Big Mac. Maurer once told us: "I'll make a Big Mac better than McDonald's does, if that's what people want."

As Big Macs go, it's not totally according to Hoyle, chef Josh Stockton approximates it. There are indeed two grass-fed patties (and they look legit, don't they?), the cheese and onion are subsumed into a cheddar-onion-béchamel sauce, the lettuce is shredded iceberg, the pickles are Gold Cash Gold's B&B-style, and the special sauce is your basic Thousand Island, not a far cry from McD's. It all comes on a house-baked bun, though sans sesame.

The hamburger comes with house-made chips and goes for $13. Yeah, it's pricy, but you'll have the pleasure of knowing a clown somewhere is crying while you enjoy it.

Gold Cash Gold is at 2100 Michigan Ave., Detroit; 313-242-0770; goldcashgolddetroit.com.