Dream Burger

Foster Burger is a new burger bar in SE Portland near Foster & 54th. This visit was my first time in the area, and finding this place was pretty difficult. There are no signs outside of the building, and the address wasn’t viewable from the car, so I had to estimate where it should be and walk a few blocks before I actually found it. The only signifier of its existence are a few print-outs of their logo on the window pane. Once you actually find the building, you walk up a few stairs and go through a second set of doors. After you seat yourself, a server stops by and hands you a menu, which is small and to the point. They have burgers, a mushroom burger, a cod sandwich, a few sides, a salad, milkshakes, and booze. The menu description for the burger:

The Foster Burger – House ground Lindsey Ranch Beef and Sweet Briar Farms backfat, chargrilled, on a sesame roll baked next door at An Xuyen Bakery with lettuce, house-made pickles, onion, and Foster Sauce. $7.50
Add Sweet Briar Farms thick cut bacon – $2.00
Add Beecher’s 2 year old Cheddar cheese – $1.00
Add Rogue Blue cheese – $2.00
Add fried Sweet Briar Farms egg – $1.50
Add caramelized onions – $.50

I ordered the burger as-is, and waited for about 10 minutes for the burger to arrive.  The burger:

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Filed In 7 - Real Good | 2 Comments »
Tagged can't tag sauce enough, foster burger, portland, sauce, sauce shock, SE, SO MUCH SAUCE, the blob (of sauce), the undertones, tons of fucking sauce

As their website states, Fenouil is an urban brasserie that “combines the best of classic French cuisine with the inventive use of flavors and ingredients from nearby European countries.”  I have heard they have a pretty amazing happy hour, so I decided to try it out for myself. Their happy hour menu offers more variety than most, and at 50% of the normal menu price.  The menu listing for the burger:

Hamburger Parisien – gruyere cheese. caramelized onions. tomatoes. dijon aioli. pommes frites or salad
with Carlton Farms bacon 14.

I ordered it as is with fries.  I ordered some cheap drinks and eagerly anticipated the arrival of my burger.

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Filed In 8 - Fuckin' good | 2 Comments »
Tagged fenouil, french, portland, SW, the pearl

Vita Cafe is a restaurant in NE Portland specializing in vegetarian/vegan fare. Their tagline:

“Since 1999, Vita Café has been serving the community with wholesome meals at a fair price. Our restaurant serves primarily vegetarian and vegan fare as well as free range, all natural, hormone free meats and eggs. We choose to use local and organic products as much as possible and strive to reduce our overall impact on the environment by focusing on using sustainable business practices.”

I think their menu is completely vegan/vegetarian with the exception of a beef burger. My initial thinking was “Whoa, this burger must be really good then!” So I already felt inclined to order it. The menu listing:

BURGERS:  vegan veggie burger  or free range, hormone free quarter pound beef – $5.50.  ~ add cheese +$1, add vegan cheese sheet of plastic +$1.5, or add tempeh ‘fakin’ or peppered-bacon +$1

I asked the server if I should go with the burger or some other dish that seemed good, and she said she didn’t eat meat but hears customers rave about the burger constantly.  So I went ahead and ordered the burger with cheddar cheese and a side of fries.

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Filed In 2 - Why does this exist | No Comments »
Tagged NE, portland, vegan-only, vita cafe

Paccini’s is a restaurant and bar (as you would guess by their name) on Portland State University campus in SW Portland. When you first walk in, it initially seems like a pizza parlor with limited seating where you can order pizza and sandwiches. As you walk back into the rear of the building, there is a bar and a dining room with a full menu.

Their mission statement: “Wanting nothing more than to make you happy with quality scratch cooking, a warm and comfortable environment and friendly service.”  I guess they don’t mean warm in a literal sense since it was absolutely freezing cold inside. Anyway. The menu description:

Cheeseburger 3.00

They really could be a bit more descriptive with this. When I ordered it, I was expecting a bun, a tiny slice of beef, and a bland slice of cheese. The bartender handed me a number, I set it on the table, and my plate was delivered about 15 minutes later.

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Filed In 7 - Real Good | 3 Comments »
Tagged $DEALZ$, happy hour, paccini's, portland, SW

Fire on the Mountain is a restaurant at East Burnside & 17th serving a wide variety of chicken products, burgers, and other fried foods. They also have a North Interstate location, which is smaller in size but has a similar menu.

The set up is kind of confusing if you’ve never been there before. As soon as you walk in, there is a counter where you can check out the menu and order your food. If you’re eating inside, you take a number and place it on your table. There is no hostess or waitstaff, so you seat yourself – and if it’s busy, it’s a good idea to grab a table prior to ordering.  At the counter, you can sample any of their wing sauces with a piece of celery prior to ordering and committing yourself to a sauce you’ve never tried before.

Anyway, I’ve eaten wings here a bunch of times and have always thoroughly enjoyed them, so I figure I should try out the burger. They offer a regular burger and a bison burger with the following descriptions:

Basic Burger – A half pound of all natural Painted Hills beef with lettuce, tomato, onion and garlic mayo. $7.95

Bison Burger – A half pound of all natural, free range bison with lettuce, tomato, onion and garlic mayo.  $9.95

The burgers are served with fresh cut fries, but you can substitute potato salad or chili for an additional $0.95. I ordered the Bison Burger with fries and added cheddar cheese (+ $.50). The wait was pretty short, and after a few minutes the cashier brought over this plate:

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Filed In 3 - Disappointing | 3 Comments »
Tagged fire on the mountain, mayonnaise lovers, portland, SE, wings only

Holman’s Restaurant is a dive bar (or not – they don’t have PBR on tap) in SE Portland at 28th and Burnside.  The outside doesn’t seem too inviting, and the only reason why I even ate here was because it was raining and 3 other restaurants didn’t have any open tables.  I would say the menu has a nice selection considering it’s a bar, but the pricing is a bit high for food. There were 4 or 5 specialty burgers available, as well as a build-your-own-burger option. A burger with lettuce and onion starts out at $5.50. I added cheddar cheese ($1.00) and tomato ($0.50) and a side of french fries ($1.95).  Ten minutes later, my plate arrived:

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Filed In 7 - Real Good | 1 Comment »
Tagged holman's restaurant, mayonnaise slab, meal wheel, owls, portland

Hopworks Urban Brewery Portland’s first Eco-Brewpub, offering “all organic handcrafted beers, fresh local ingredients, and a sustainable building with a relaxed and casual atmosphere.”  The place is pretty big and has parking for seventy cars, eight motorcycles and up to fifty bikes – which is a good call since every time I drive past, the place seems absolutely packed. There are 4 areas within HUB – the bar area (with bicycle frames strung across the bar itself), a family-friendly section with play area (A+ for keeping screaming obnoxious children out of my sight), a banquent mezzanine, and an outdoor beer-garden. They have a nice selection of beer on tap, and a very extensive menu. I can probably hype this up more, but all I really care about is the cheeseburger:

Brewers Burger – 1/2 Pound beef patty. Served on a Tillamook cheddar cheese & onion bun w/ lettuce, tomato, red onion & mayonnaise.
The Standard $8.75
Tillamook cheddar, provolone, or Rogue River blue cheese $9.50
ESBBQ, bacon & Tillamook cheddar $10.75
Add bacon or avocado $1.50

They are are served with “your choice of house made potato chips, organic thick-cut french fries, house salad or soup of your choice.” I ordered a burger with cheddar cooked Medium with a side of “thick-cut french fries.” I am adding quotes around this horseshit because check out what HUB really means by that:

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Filed In 8 - Fuckin' good | 2 Comments »
Tagged FRENCH FRY LIES, hopworks urban brewery, HUB, portland