Washington: Clark County Fair

Cross the river and they tinker with everything:

The Onionaire burger.

The Onionaire burger stand has been at the Clark County fair for as long as I can remember. I have been getting my annual "fix" ever since I was in high school and that was over 20 years ago. Nothing has changed. They are still delicious.

The burger is fried on a grill. Next to the burgers you will see a giant mountain of onions being fried to a golden brown.

I've noticed (on occasion) that instead of placing the cooked burgers in a warming bin, they set the burgers UNDER the soft, brown onions to stay warm and absorb the onion-y goodness.

I order an Onionaire burger with cheese. Every year. Same thing. They dig under the mountain of onions for the burger and place it on a bun, add a slice of American cheese and heap on the onions. I mean HEAP. There is no need to add anything else. The cheese melts into the onions and forms a beautiful, sticky, sauce-like subatance. So, you don't need to add any mustard or ketchup. My favorite part is the onion/cheese mess that is left in the paper wrapper after I'm finished. I happily eat that with my fingers.

Total cost for this tasty bit of Clark County Fair history? Under $5.

You can get a double for $5.75. Same thing only more of it.

Definitely worth the price of admission to the fair.

Clark County Fair
17402 NE Delfel Rd.
Ridgefield, WA 98642

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Washington: Anthony's (Sea-Tac)

XLR8R picked up BurgerBlogger's mix-tape thingy (what do you call it these days) and puts a burger in RAW's face:

Party-rocker, super-dj, and new daddy R.A.W aka 6BLOCC and I headed to Portland from LA to rock out the Goodfoot's 4th of July bash. On Saturday we DJ'ed at the release party of his new CD on Portland's own LoDubs record label at Various PDX then we had lunch at Seattle airport restaurant Anthonys, a seafood joint.

RAW: This burger surprised me with its soft texture and juicy beef that practically melted in my mouth. The bun was fresh and the fries were perfectly cut for those big swipes of ketchup.

I washed this scrumdiliumcious burger plate down with a Margarita on the rocks. I give this morning meal a 9/10 only because I didn't have any mustard to mix with my ketchup, other than that.....this burger is the bees knees! SeaTac baybayyy!!

Bonus Pickle!

Anthony's
All over Washington/Oregon

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Washington: Nitelite (Seattle)

Burgermeister and Hambaagu went north:

Late night drunk and delicious. Cheap basic burger, downstairs from the Moore Theater.
Yum Yum.

Nitelite
1926 2nd Ave.
Seattle, WA 98101
(206)443-0899

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Washington: Norma's (Olympia)

Sir Thomas Burger:

Sometimes simply seeing where the road leads you offers more rewards than the intended destination, and Norma's Burger is one of those treasures. I ran across this gem heading north just looking for a place to eat that wasn't fast food (not an easy thing to find on I-5 between Portland and Seattle).

This is a classic American burger hop with the decor of a suburban family room complete with oak furnishings, pastel colors, floral prints and a smell of potpourri. None of this is particularly interesting on its own, but this family has a proud Veteran in it and there's tons of patriotism to be found in every direction. The art was truly amazing – more Bald Eagles and U.S. flags than most federal buildings. Beyond a mere shrine in support of the troops, this place acts more like a spastic Labrador pup all slobbering excited ready to hump the leg of the troops.

To top it all off, the burger menu offers specialties such as "The Duke" and "The W" burgers. And I'm not making it up when I say Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" was playing on the radio as I deliberated on which one to have.

I have friends who are bound by restaurant code to order whatever the most ridiculous "specialty" item on any menu is regardless of how disgusting or what they may actually want to eat (including homemade Tombstone/Hormel "chili pizza"). So borrowing their instincts, I had to go with the choice offering jalapenos, pineapple, and mustard…I ate The W.

Overall it's not such a bad home-style burger and the pineapple/mustard combo is tamed by the overpowering Kraft American cheese. Norma's is well worth a stop on a the dull Seattle drive and I'd suggest getting there soon to try The W. It won't be long before Norma's faced with changing this up to be a "Hillary Deluxe" or an "Obama with Cheese."

Norma's Burger @ I-5
Interstate 5, Exit 114
10322 Martin Way E.
Olympia, WA 98516

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