P-D-X! BURGERS

so finding the perfect burger in Albany, NY was a big quest, but one i felt i could reasonably conquer - there were a ton of restaurants we wanted to try, but, they were (for the most part) all achievable in the 5-6 years we were going to be staying there. i had a few left on my list when we moved away, but i felt good - damn good, that i have had albany's finest, and crushed all its burger scene had to offer.

then came the move to Portland. love the city, excited about the city, but SO MANY FOOD OPTIONS that it is/was damn near overwhelming. within a few block radius there are probably 5-10 restaurants/trucks i'd really want to try - throw a stone, pop into a place, odds are you're probably going to leave happy.  with that, i regret to say it took me this long, all of 9 months, to finally pull together my consolidated burger recommendation hit list / research. no more!

as of 9/28/14, i'm starting my list. i have no doubt the list will be ever-evolving since places are constantly popping up, but you've gotta start somewhere, gotta burger somehow. 

all the places with a star are the places i've tried; places in bold are my next targets, for personal reference : ) 

Acropolis (NSFW) - SE Portland 
*All-Way Burgers - SW Portland (8 / 10)
The Angry Unicorn - SE Portland
Ate-Oh-Ate - NE Portland
Bamboo Sushi - NW Portland 
Bar Bar - NE Portland
Biwa - SE Portland
*Boise Fry Company - NW Portland (6.5 / 10)
*Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries - Jantzen Beach Portland (6 / 10) 
Brunchbox - NW Portland 
*Burgerville - NE Portland (7 / 10)
*The Canyon Grill - Beaverton (6 / 10) 
*Carl's Jr - Literally Everywhere, OR (3 / 10) 
Clarklewis - Central Eastside Portland
*Davis Street Tavern - NW Portland (7 / 10)
*Deschutes Brewery - NW Portland (5.5/10)
*Dick's Kitchen - NW Portland (7.5 / 10)
*Doug Fir Lounge - NE Portland (7 / 10)
Ecliptic Brewing - North Portland 
Foster Burger - SE Portland
*Grain and Gristle - NE Portland (7.75 / 10)
*Gruner - NW Portland (9.5 / 10) 
Helvetia Tavern - Hillsboro
Humdinger Drive In - SW Portland
*Joe's Burgers - NW Portland (6.5 / 10) 
*Killer Burger - NW Portland (7 / 10) 
*Lardo - NW Portland (9 / 10)
*Little Big Burger - NW Portland (10 / 10) 
The Local Cow - Gresham, OR
*Lumberyard Rotisserie & Grill- Cannon Beach, OR (6.5 / 10)
The Old Gold - NE Portland
The Original - NW Portland 
The Original Wow! Burger - NE Portland 
Paley's Place - NW Portland
PDX Sliders - SE Portland/Sellwood 
Red Star Tavern - NW Portland
Rock House Grill - Cartlandia, SE Portland
Skyline Restaurant - NW Portland
*Slow Bar- NE Portland (8 / 10)
Slowburger - NE Portland
Stanich's - NE Portland
Tabor Tavern - East Portland
*Tasty and Alder - NW Portland (9.5 / 10) 
*Tilt - NW Portland (9 / 10)
Toro Bravo - NE Portland 
Trifecta Tavern & Bakery - SE Industrial, Portland (Pimento Cheese)
Yakuza - NW Portland

recipe: cheeseburger dumplings

these dumplings are pretty much the best damn thing i have made in my kitchen in... .... ... as long as i can remember. i've been on a big dumpling kick, with bags and bags of em in my freezer. after getting a little inebriated a few weeks back, i was struck with dreams of homemade cheeseburger dumplings, turkey cranberry dumplings, philly cheese, sausage & pepper dumplings, oreo cheesecake dumplings... the list goes on. i literally have a list on my phone of about 15 different dumplings that are haunting my dreams to this day.

first at bat in the kitchen was the cheeseburger variety, since i had a little burger meat in the freezer just begging for a good time. and cuz you know, cheeseburgers. after they were assembled (which was not too bad at all, no where near my scratch-made pierogi fiasco ), i fried a few up and threw the rest in the freezer. they were SO damn good. like amazingly delicious. like i can't wait to make about 50000 more dumplings. like when i open my slider and tini bar, it might just become a slider-dumpling-tini bar because i can't love them any harder. aaah. don't steal my idea. (c) 2014 that's my jam.

we served them with a little diy fry sauce (half ketchup, half mayo, touch of Sriracha), which seemed to be the just-right little fix for this asia-merican fusion delight.

ingredient list: (makes about 36 dumplings)
- 1/3 lb (roughly) lean ground beef
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- 1/2 cup red onion
- 2 tbsp ketchup
- 1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
- 1 green onion
- salt & pepper to taste
- 30 (or so) gyoza / dumpling wrappers
- 3 tbsps vegetable or canola oil, divided
- 1 & 1/2 cups water, divided

recipe: shrimp, tomato, & zucchini ricotta pasta

with a hodge-podge of ingredients in the house (leftover ricotta from lasagna, zucchini, basil, shrimp), we decided to actually make use of them and throw them into a new pasta. i used inspiration from Dinners, Dishes and Deserts, which hit the nail on the head of exactly what we were planning to do here. it was really quick & easy to assemble, and not only was it healthy AND delish, but it made me feel good for actually using the random zucchini's we always end up receiving and forgetting about(zucchini's seem to be the most seasonally gifted veggie, though the one i most infrequently eat). the original recipe also calls for sausage, but we left that out since we were trying to health this one up for a change. 

ingredients list:

- 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled & deveined

- 1/2 container (about 6 oz) ricotta cheese 

- 8 oz pasta (any kind)

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 medium sized zucchini, diced

- 4 cloves garlic, minced

- 1 can fire roasted tomatoes, drained

- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/2 tsp black pepper

- 1/2 tsp dried oregano

- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

- 2-3 tbsp fresh basil leaves

- salt & pepper to taste

misc. PDX eats

1) East India Co Grill & Bar- Chicken Vindaloo & lots of garlic naan, not shown. they promised spice, they delivered - enough to get my nose runny, but not enough for it not to be an absolute delight. the garlic naan was GD divine. i was so full i felt sick, but kept shoveling it all in my face. we went during din, but hopefully i'll make it to a lunch buffet so i can eat um... everything.  

2) Son of a Biscuit - the hubs wanted to try this place for a while, cuz 1) fried chicken 2) owned by the same folks as Little Big Burger, and 3) the building is adorable. i could not disagree with any of those points. we split a spicy fried chicken meal which came with a few pieces pieces of chicken (obvi), 1 side (mac & cheese...ooomn), and a biscuit. + 1 extra biscuit. the chicken isn't your traditional fried chicken - it's mixed up with a lot of sweet & spicy seasonings. a little 5 spice even. of course fried chicken evokes strong feelings in many, because the reviews i've seen online are either "hate" or "love". i think that's because everyone goes in thinking of their cliche staple fried chicken... which this is not. and if you let go of that, on it's own this spicy fried piece of bird is delicious IMO. the mac & cheese was also reallly good (even a little sweet?), though super-heavy, of course. the biscuits were dense, but delish. we ordered one each, but after realizing they weigh about 5 lbs each realized we only needed 1 after the heaviness of the rest of the meal. that left sweet, sweet leftovers of extra mac & cheese and a biscuit for later, which is OK by me. would definitely go back. 

3) Sauvie Island Farms - we heard of this mystical land in Portland where you can pick-your-own anything. which was weird, since back in NY you picked pumpkins or apples, and nothing else. we went a little late in the season so it was a little picked over, but what we did find was delish. and not all that expensive, especially considering the quality vs. traditional grocery store groceries (i don't really buy organic Whole Foods fancy pants veggies). we got this lil haul for all of $13 bucks. blackberries were the winers of the bunch, though we had no complaints.



4)Pine State Biscuits - we finally tried the legeitnd. my sister was in town, so since it was an 'occasion', it made me feel a lot less guilty for this heavy fat-laden treasure.  i ordered the sausage egg & cheese, with a peppering of hot sauce. biscuit was delicious, the sausage tasted a little weird to me, but that may be because i'm used to out-of-the box bad part of the cow/pig sausage as opposed to a housemade (not from garbage) sausage patty. i felt a little guilty after eating this, but the satisfaction outweighed the guilt. even after having a voodoo doughnut for desert. cuz you know, house guests ; ) 

misc PDX burgers

i still have yet to make my official hit list of Portland burger targets... one being lack of time, two being the overwhelming amount of good burgers in this city. the perfect burger quest is much larger here than it was in good old Albany. this past week i decided to stop being intimidated, refocus, and get all over it. no more random burgers - i need burgers with a purpose. a few misc randoms from the last month or so:

1 ) Boise Fry Company. This little gem opened down the street, with a focus all on fries, and burgers on the side. contrary to everything i believe in, but i love the concept. they have several different types of potatoes, served unseasoned but with your choice of a ton of different salts and fry sauces. we had the purple potatoes, and i ordered a buffalo burger with lettuce, tomato, red onion gastrique and garlic aioli. it wasn't an uber-juicy drippy meatfest since it was buffalo, but it was still a tasty little nosh. i'd definitely go back again.

 2) Doug Fir Lounge. Portland Burger week. imagine my surprise when i heard of this magnificent week. a slew of great PDX restaurants (20 in total?), all offering their most creative little burgery creation for a mere $5. heaven. we hit up Doug Fir Lounge (which i wanted to try regardless, #burgerfates), which featured a 6oz hand-formed Wagyu patty, candied bacon, mozzarella cheese, smoked and candied jalapeño aioli, shredded iceberg lettuce, all on a Portland French Bakery bun. so good. my only complaint was that the bun was a bit too bready for the burger and drowned it out a bit... i think it was designed for their regular sized burger. picky yes, but i hate when i have more bready edge than i have burger, stresses me out trying to reposition my patty & such. pure drama. net/net: drop the bun down a notch, let the burger & fixins shine, and my gawed great burger. jalapeno artichoke dip and thai spice tots were AMAZING on the side. 

3) Burgerville. we needed something quick, and -thought- that infamous wala wala onion season had kicked off at Burgerville... seemed like a perfect time for some onion rings and to officially hit up their burger. we initially scoffed at "burgerville" since we're ~sorta~ leaning in the burger snob direction unfortunately, and assumed a cliche sounding burger chain just couldn't be good, BUT the more and more good reviews we heard, the more we were intrigued. at that, i had no expectations going in, but was pleasantly surprised with the experience. first by the fact walla walla onion rings didn't start until the following day (booo!), but second by the fact that they offered a mighty respectable burger for a fast food joint. it was very clean - similar to In & Out (which i liked, but do not obsess over my any means) - it's just a straight up burger. it felt healthy, even though i'm sure it was not. burgerville can hold its own - well above Jack in the Box & Carl's Jr., i'd take b-ville over them any day hands down. the day i have to make a decision between b-ville and my BK bacon double cheese burger though... that will be a mighty fight. 

Seattle eats!

i'm finally sifting through my pics, and all the delish snacks along the way. it's a good time to reset now, as i'm back down to the weight i was when i first came to PDX. too much delish food, too many new places to try. we spent a weekend in Seattle, trying to eat as much as possible along the way, starting with one of the must-do's, Pike Place Chowder (which was worth the ridic long, rainy line).

for seafood, Queen City Grill - sauteed wild mushrooms on polenta cake with shaved pecorino; sea scallops pan-seared with sake ginger vinaigrette; and seared ahi tuna with mashed potatoes and a szechwan red pepper sauce. the mushrooms might have been my favorite part (and resulted in a failed re-attempt of me making these at home); the tuna was good but sadly overcooked a tad. even with that, still an overall amazing meal. 

for dim sum, we hit one of the recommended places in the international district that i can't remember the name of (and they are all on the same block so i can't place them), but i remember loving everything, and ordering way too much food. spring rolls, shrimp shu mai, ginger beef something-something. it unfortunately wasn't that busy at the time we went so we didn't have cart service (i have yet in my life to get to one), but it was still a charming, quiet little large meal before we hit the road home, a massive helping of leftover beef something-something smelling up the car most of the way. 

next time, i actually have to get a cup of coffee. too little sleep, too many cocktails to handle a cup. 

recipe: broccoli & cheddar twice baked potato

these potatoes were another find of mine from my intoxicated journey through foodgawker.com this past weekend. the recipe is taken from Good Life Eats, although i left out the bacon and cream cheese to make them a little healthier (booo!), and added in a bit more seasoning to compensate for that sad, sad piggy elimination.

although i'm not a big broccoli fan (delicately put, i hate it and hope it dies), these were pretty good - enough so that i would make them again. while broccoli on it's own can be offensive IMO, here the flavor blends well with the rest of the potato/cheesy goodness, so it's more like secretly sneaking in veggies than it is being overtly "healthy". i topped these with crushed red pepper flakes and some smoked chipotle bacon sea salt, which gave me that little hit of bacon these needed.

ingredients list: 
- 4 russet potatoes
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1.5 cups (roughly) of broccoli florets, chopped (*the original recipe calls for the broccoli to be steamed, i left it raw since i prefer uncooked/crunchy broccoli)
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
- 1 green onion, sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- salt & pepper to taste

noodle stir fries & Uwajimaya market love

Uwajimaya Asian market - not many stores here in PDX (or anywhere really) that can keep me endlessly entertained as well as this one. go in for one quick item, leave with a few bags full of mystery groceries, and another hour off my life. aaah. 

my cauc-Asian Potsticker Stir Fry recipe is in constant rotation in my house, always with varying types of dumplings and/or meats, depending on what we have in the fridge (and how many types of potstickers/dumplings i have stocked up on, which is usually quite a few). for a recent rendition of the noodle noodle din din i threw in some sukiyaki hot pot beef from Uwajimaya (they have a full fridge JUST for all natural hot pot meats), along with ramen noodles. SO good. worth the visit, and definitely one of my favorite quick mid-week throw together dinners. 

is it wrong if i have learned to love rice noodles more than pasta?

recipe: baked Sriracha potato chips

the Kettle brand cheddar beer chips are devine. the Kettle Sriracha chips look devinulous. i'm on a healthy streak and denied myself a bag. and proceeded to get mildly intoxicated and spend a good portion of Saturday night pouring over recipes on foodgawker.com and try to deny myself food. what resulted... was this little number from Oh My Veggies. if god gives you potatoes, you make yourself some damn potato chips.

they came out delightful (it took 5 minutes tops for us to devour these), although they were a little too soft to be perfect. a few were starting to burn when i took them out, so i think next time i make them i'll try to bake them low & slow versus the 20 minutes @ 400F degrees. (though in part, my inebriated inconsistently sized slicing could have played a part in that as well. perhaps.) a garlic Sriracha aioli for some dip dip on the side would not hurt either, mmmmm.  all in all - worth the effort, fun lil snack without having to feel -as- guilty as eating "real" chips.

ingredients list: 

- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

- 1 tbsp Sriracha

- 1 large russet potato, cut into 1/8" slices

- salt to taste