PDX burgers: Grüner

this is officially the last burger post of my Portland backlog (so little time, so much burgering left to do). last night we were doing a little celebrating, and what better way to do it than to try my #1 PDX burger pick. i'd read about Grüner as a top Serious Eats Portland burger, as well as countless top 10 lists from the area. i can't believe i've been in town over a month and have held off trying it this long. 

this bad boy is made of grilled Cascade beef on a fresh baked poppy seed potato bun with house-cured bacon, fontina, aoili, and arugula. it also comes with b&b pickles and pickled red onions, but i left those off since i'm not a huge fan of "pickled things". this burger was EVERYTHING i wanted it to be. the beef had so much flavor to it, and was seared with perfect seasonings on the outside- just enough salt. it was so juicy it made a puddle of deliciousness on my plate... and since the fat was so good i was true glutton and just re-dipped my burger in the fatty meat juice on my plate. yes, that happened. the cheese & bacon melded well with all of it, and the squishy lil bun was a true warrior when it came to holding itself up against the meat juice typhoon oozing out of my burger. Grüner is considered a finer dining establishment, but if you burger there make sure you go with a crowd that you'll be comfortable getting elbow-deep in burger grease, with many teeny tiny poppy seeds stuck along the way. if they're not into burger sexy chic, leave them at home. 

i ordered the fried smashed potatoes on the side, which in and of themselves were phenomenal (crispy crunchy outside, gooey potato inside, great sour cream dipping sauce that makes the whole package taste like a pimped out sour cream & onion chip). this burger will be VERY hard to contend with in PDX... i feel like every place this point forward will be misjudged based off the high bar that is set. hold onto your hat, Portland.