Tom & Eddie’s, a new restaurant that opens to the public this Friday at the Yorktown Mall in Lombard, has built its menu around a line of nine cheeseburgers.

But when the business began welcoming invitation-only guests on Monday, there was one humongous “cheeseburger” that nobody was allowed to touch, let alone eat.

That’s because it’s one of the most expensive—and exquisitely decorated—cakes ever to grace a restaurant opening. It is being served only after Grand Opening ribbon-cutting ceremonies on Friday morning at 348 Yorktown Center at The Shops on Butterfield.

From 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for three straight days, the remarkably authentic-looking “Cheeseburger Cake” is standing in a corner of Tom & Eddie’s. Overnight, it goes into a freezer for storage.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, to ensure its protection from those who may succumb to finger-foraging temptation, Tom & Eddie’s retained a security guard to stand watch over the cake. The 24-year-old, Brad Anderson, was immediately deputized as a “Good Taste Guard,” in keeping with the restaurant’s pledge to “put good taste in everything we do.”

“Our Good Taste Guard is going to make sure nobody messes with it,” said Ed Rensi, Tom & Eddie’s co-founder. “This is one serious mission and this is one very valuable cake.”

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