The bar and beer garden at Tycoon Flats has long been a gathering spot for crowds of all stripes; the shaded picnic tables still beckon during daily happy hour. The restaurant interior appears to have been gentrified a touch over time, but there’s nothing too tony about a “Double Dog Basket”—despite the snappy Chicago pup, which boasts lots of fluorescent relish, sport peppers, and more, having been cleaned up somewhat: there’s no pickle or detectable celery seed. The less-pretentious chili-cheese model, triggering a $1.25 supplement, comes with automatic ballpark and onions plus both white and yellow cheese. It’s more Texas than Windy City, but for all that the chili is ordinary, the mustard superfluous. The optional mixed sweet potato and potato fries are dry and dutiful.

Appetizers, fried foremost, consist of knee-jerk mushrooms, fried veggies…and fried pickles. Yes, we finally fell for them. The basket is absurdly large, and it’s heaped with coins fried in a cayenne-laced batter. Only marginally oily, they’re perversely addicting—for about ten minutes; then they cloy. Better are the house-cut potato chips that are an option with the half-pound burgers. About which: we wish the house had the courage of its convictions regarding the “Flats’ Caramelized Signature Sauce” on the “Signature Burger.” Not much of the garlic and multiple peppers comes through, though the beef is good enough, and the split-top bun at least has been thought about. Grilled pepper steak and fish tacos are other options.