Under the Table with Jen » Burgers

Paley’s Place

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:15:27 +0000

Paley’s Bistro Burger holds its place in the echelons of Portland best burgers, a thick, pink-centered mound of just-ground and grilled American Kobe beef dripping with juices and topped with a tender ring of grilled onion and melted cheddar, served on a poppyseed-sprinkled brioche bun spread with ketchup and a sharp whole grain mustard aioli. Plated with pickled vegetables and a light salad of fresh greens, the only thing that could make this burger more perfect is a deftly mixed drink–try chef Vitaly Paley’s favorite, the Tanqueray No. 10 martini, served up with a twist.

Slow Bar

admin — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 05:13:28 +0000

Slow Bar might emit a dive bar aura, but the black napkins are cloth, the mesclun greens are organic, and the Dom Perignon 1996 Rosé is $300 a bottle. In accordance with its surroundings, the famed Slow Burger is also somehow simultaneously primitive and luxurious, presented with a serrated steak knife stabbed through its heart–both for visual effect and as a means to secure the two nearly inch-wide golden fried onion rings that top the half pound Painted Hills beef burger. Shrouded in gruyere and served on a Grand Central Bakery bun with crisp butter lettuce and pickle relish, this Angelina Jolie of burgers comes with hot hand cut fries and makes an excellent companion for your Dom Perignon.

The Original

admin — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 05:39:25 +0000

When I saw The Original’s Voodoo Burger on the menu, at first I laughed incredulously, then I snorted disdainfully, then I turned the page and checked out the salads, like a sensible person. But as I debated the Cobb verses the Caesar, I couldn’t stop thinking about a big beef patty fused to two halves of a glazed raised Voodoo Doughnut with cheddar, even as I decried the revolting, shameless, grandstanding novelty of it all. Naturally, I ordered it. And I must say, that doughnut burger was awful good. Meaty, cheesy, soft and sweet, it went down way too easily. Next time, I’ll definitely get the Caesar. I think.

50 Plates

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:19:57 +0000

How can you resist ordering something dubbed a “Silver Dollar Sammie?” It would take a stronger girl than me. 50 Plates’ list of three bites-sized sliders runs the gamut from pulled pork to fried green tomato, but it’s the beef I’m interested in. The Lil’ Kahuna Burger is a cradled in a sweet potato roll with sweet tangy BBQ sauce and slaw, while the Old Faithful is just that–a reliably tasty stack of tender juicy Kobe beef, Tillamook cheddar, and homemade relish. Say yes to to the menu’s “Fries With That?” inquiry, and you can pair your sliders with hot fried Burbank Russet french fries for $2.50.

Clyde Common

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:31:58 +0000

The Clyde Common burger reminds me of the restaurant–simple, stylish, and belly-friendly. It’s a classic juicy burger-meets-soft bun romance, but you can spice things up a little by adding cheddar, blue cheese, bacon or a fried egg. The fries are thin, hot and slightly addictive (kind of like Robert Pattinson), and served with Clyde’s signature and sometimes controversial housemade harissa ketchup. The burger appears on the lunch ($9) and happy hour ($6) menus, but you’ll find it curiously absent from the dinner offerings. Not a problem–just ask your server to hook you up and they’ll gladly do so, especially if you are Robert Pattinson.

Yakuza

admin — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 17:57:30 +0000

“The fries were inside the burger,” my father blurted as we were leaving sleek little North Portland eatery Yakuza the other night. “They were inside.” My dad’s a pretty old-fashioned guy, so I wasn’t sure how he’d take this assault on french fry tradition. “What did you think?” I asked hesitantly. “It was darn tootins good burger!” he replied enthusiastically. And there you have it, straight from my dad. The exalted Yakuza burger, darling of the haute burger world and recent Portland Monthly cover model, with its thick round of Highland Oak Farms beef piled with Cypress Grove chévre and secret sauce and of course, the mound of misplaced shoelace potatoes mentioned above, makes for a darn tootins good burger.

Brunch Box

admin — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 04:49:55 +0000

These days, the humble burger is getting fancier and pricier, as burger bars let you customize your hunk o’ beef with asparagus and truffle oil, chefs experiment like mad scientists with patty thickness, shape and seasonings, and fries are served with increasingly embellished dipping sauces like orange-saffron aioli. So when you visit The Brunch Box on SW 5th Avenue, you might do a double take when you see the menu–a basic quarter pounder with all the traditional trimmings–lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion–for $3! Or upgrade to the YouCanHasCheeseburger, for $5 your patty comes cradled between two Texas-toast grilled cheese sandwiches. And Spam lovers (you know who you are) only have to fork over $4 for the 5OH! Burger with spam, pineapple and sweet teriyaki glaze. Chips are a dollar, and sodas and Capri Suns will only set you back 50 cents.

Belly Timber

admin — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:54:12 +0000

Ah, the Belly Timber Burger. One Belly Timber Burger, please! Go ahead and say that out loud. Not so easy, is it? Good thing the Belly Timber Burger is so delicious, it’s well worth the effort to enunciate it. A fat, perfectly formed patty, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper and grilled to glistening goodness, placed on a soft, buttered ‘n grilled bun, and topped precisely but unfussily with fresh lettuce, tomato, pickles, and house-pickled onions ($10). Add Tillamook sharp cheddar, blue cheese, or pimento cheese and house-smoked bacon, and make your belly extra happy. During happy hour, the Belly Timber Burger is only $6, and you can add the thick golden house French Fries with rich bone marrow aioli ($3) and a cold pint ($3).

Bridgeport Brewpub

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:19:14 +0000

The Bridgeport Burger is a thick savory half pound of freshly ground Cascade Natural chuck piled with Tillamook white cheddar, lettuce, tomato and mayo, and accompanied by a pile of golden brown, uber-crispy thick cut fries ($10.25). If you’re feeling slightly unconventional–a few pints of Bridgeport’s IPA generally has that effect on me–pony up another quarter and opt for the burger with pepperjack, jalapenos, house-made fire sauce ($10.50), the burger with smoked cheddar, ipa bbq sauce, and an onion ring ($10.50), or the black + blue burger (blackened cajun spices and blue cheese, $10.50). There’s also a house-made veggie burger ($9.75). And of course, any burger is that much better with a pint of one of Bridgeport’s excellent ales, especially when both are consumed outside on the old loading dock-cum-shaded and very social terrace.

Urban Farmer

admin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:15:21 +0000

I’m always suspicious when my burger doesn’t look like a burger. For example, when my burger looks like an Egg McMuffin, I get a little weirded out. So, when my first Urban Farmer happy hour burglet arrived, I blanched. Was it supposed to be on an English muffin? Had they run out of buns? Turns out, there is a method to Urban Farmer’s muffin madness. The dense, slightly chewy housemade English muffin actually makes an excellent foil for the richness of the kobe beef burger patty, which is topped with savory melted cheddar cheese and spread with creamy housemade aioli. And since Urban Farmer is, after all, a “modern steakhouse,” you could hardly expect them to serve a regular old burger on a plain old bun, right?