Good Burgers for Power & Light?

One of my fears for the Power & Light district has been that it will be exactly the same as every other developed downtown I've visited, utterly without local flavor. I remember wandering Denver's plastic 16th Street Mall once, and asking a couple where I could get a great Denver meal. "There's a New York Cheesecake Factory up a block or two," they gushed, "but if you don't want to wait, there's an Applebee's around the corner."

Welcome to Anywhere.

Yesterday, though, Eric Barton of the Pitch gave me hope. He reported on the Plog that Rob Dalzell will be opening a place called Chefburger in the district. Dalzell is responsible for 3 bright spots in Kansas City's food world - 1924 Main, Souperman and Pizza Bella, so that's good news in and of itself. Eric Barton notes, however, that Dalzell brings his burger mojo from Taylor’s Automatic Refresher in St. Helena, California.

Barton reports that he ate at Taylor's Automatic Refresher the day after eating at the French Laundry, perhaps the most sought-after meal in the food world. While Barton gives the French Laundry its props, he claims that his burger at Taylor's was equally memorable.

t wasn’t any secret ingredient that it made it so damn good, just a freshly baked egg bun; crisp veggies; a special sauce that I think was just Thousand Island dressing; and one fat, perfectly cooked patty. It came wrapped in paper, and we got onion rings and sweet-potato fries on the side.

We can only hope that Dalzell will be bringing some of that James-Beard-Award-Winning burger magic to Kansas City. Barton has single-handedly raised my hopes for the Power & Light District.