Burger Skills: Rims

Whataburger! has a taste for the Tigard Police's D.A.R.E. mini-truck. I think we will sling McDonalds this Friday.

Photo from Whateves via Supersized Meals

Read more...

Burger Tour: Pure Country Gold PART 1

Pure Country Gold are having a good year (and apparently still training for the upcoming Olympics). Willamette Week declared them one of the top 10 best new bands in Portland. They released a couple records, one on Empty and another 7" on Shake Appeal. And, just finished up their second tour this year that got kicked off opening for Roky Erickson at the Music Fest NW.

You can go see for yourself at Berbati's Pan on Friday October 12th, 2007.

They like to eat burgers too. Here follows a diary of the their brown nutritional requirments on the road in 2 parts.

Here's a report of our burger experiences from the Pure Country Gold "Great Divide" Tour '07.


For our first meal of the tour we stopped at a McDonald's inside a gas station in Ritzville, WA. It was a friday evening and the place was hopping with folks and we realized Ritzville is not as elegant a place as its name implies. We both ordered two $1 double cheeseburgers and a $1 order of fries from the value menu.

I’d been hearing about Dicks Burgers from friends in Spokane for years. When I woke up hung-over and starving that day I couldn’t wait to stuff some hot Dick’s in my mouth. Apparently its not related to the Dick’s in Seattle, but looks very much the same. I ordered a couple of cheeseburgers that were about a buck a piece I think. Again we decided to eat in the van and started making our way to Missoula.

I was pretty disappointed – the burgers looked and tasted not much different than the McBurgers from the night before. Jake ordered some kind of “Deluxe” burger that looked better and I think he was much happier than I.

Continued in PART 2

Read more...

Burger Tour: Pure Country Gold PART 2

PART 2

By the time we arrived in Missoula we were getting hungry again. We headed straight to the house-party where we were to be playing and where we were told there would be food waiting for us. We arrived to a fantastic and enormous food spread – there weren’t any burgers, but there were some great sausages being pulled off the grill right when we got there.

The sausages were homemade and made out of elk or antelope or some other Montana game animal - can’t remember. They were plenty of grilled onions and peppers, relish, kraut and a variety of mustards to top ‘em. Damn tasty!

The next day, midway through our long haul to Salt Lake City, we stopped in Idaho Falls in search of a place to relax and grab lunch. We decided on a bar called the Sports Castle so we could watch a little football while we ate. It was a pretty non-descript generic sports bar that smelled of bleach and grease. There was a couch and a couple of lounge chairs situated in front of the widescreen which were occupied by some large Idahoan folks. The menu was real cheap – I ordered a patty melt with tater tots for $5.

It wasn’t bad, but not good either – in fact it kinda tasted like nothing. But it served its purpose and was within my meager budget. Also, the side of ranch was complimentary and I didn’t even have to ask for it.

Spent the next couple of days burgerless, but by the time we were approaching Albuquerque I was ready. We headed straight to the club and parked the van and some local punk kid recommended a place called Lindy’s Diner right up the street. It’s a classic diner, probably around since the 20’s or 30’s, and there were photos of visiting famous people up all over the walls. If this place was good enough for Christian Slater then it was good enough for us! There was a film or TV shoot going on right outside and we figured that at any moment Jeff Goldbloom or Queen Latifah might walk in the place, but no such luck. Since this was New Mexico I figured I had to go with a burger topped with green chiles. We were the only folks in the place so the food came real quick.

The green chiles weren’t as flavorful as I hoped, but this was a great burger with a nice fluffy bun. The shredded lettuce, chiles, and pickles kept falling over the place, but it was nice to be able to grab a handful from the basket and make sure I had a proper amount of veggies with each bite. Jake went for a bacon mushroom burger I think. We were both real happy.

Spent a few more days sans hamburgers which was good for our systems and the van smelled a little less like ass for a little while. After waking up in the afternoon following a great show and late night in San Diego, our friend Thaddeus took us to Tobey’s 19th Hole – a quaint little greasy-spoon that’s on the grounds of a public golf course. We’d been here during our last visit to San Diego and knew we were in for a treat. There’s a great view of the San Diego skyline and golf course, the service is friendly and the food is cheap and fantastic. Most of us were in a breakfast mood and Burgermeister and I had the homemade corned beef hash and eggs (awesome!), but Jake was in a lunch mood and ordered the patty melt.

Jake devoured it quickly and I barely had time to snap this picture before it was all gone. It seemed there was too much bread as there were plenty of rye scraps left over when he was done, but Jake was pleased and his appetite well-sated.

EDITORIAL NOTE: The Burgermeister apparently showed up for this one.

We found ourselves in San Francisco several days later and decided to spend our afternoon at the wonderful Zeitgeist. A great bar with one of the largest and liveliest patios you’ll ever experience. The burgers are awesome here, but take a famously long time to get to you. Luckily we ran into our friend Alistair who is a regular and he made sure our burgers got to us relatively quick and for a discount. These were by far the best burgers of the trip and I was so busy scarfing mine down when it finally arrived I completely forgot to snap a picture, but I googled and found this pic (courtesy of leblog.exuberance.com).

The burgers are big and the huge slab of greasy cheddar dripped from the sides. They don’t do fries here – instead the burgers are served with a generous helping of crispy mashed up home fries. Highly recommended!

We played the last night of our tour at the Alibi in Arcata, CA. Their menu offers an extensive list of burgers and has long been one of my favorite burger spots, but on this night we were both in the mood for lighter fare.

That was it - a couple crappy ones and a few great ones. We're gonna hit the road again in the spring and we'll again report on our burger adventures.

Read more...

News: All burgers, all the time!

Bollywood Insight lets us know about the tough time Kunal Kapoor is having while filming a burger scene.

...There was one scene in which I am supposed to eat a hamburger and there is some mayonnaise that needs to fall on my jacket and I don’t think I have eaten so many burgers in my life put together because I had like some 16 Burgers and 3 bottles of mayonnaise...

If computer toys are your thing then soon you can get your hands on a hamburger USB drive.

Hamburgers can provide some tempting young lads with a topic for bad pickup lines:

7. Yo Baby, you be my Dairy Queen, I'll be your Burger King, you treat me right, and I'll do it your way right away.

9. If your were a new hamburger at McDonald's, you would be McGorgeous

Carl's Jr. is ramping up production on their new signature Britney Spears burger.

And of course no bicycle is complete without a bell in our favorite form factor



Picture by Dystopos with CC license.

Read more...

The Blaze Flame Broiled Burgers

It cost a couple bucks to enter their massive dining area, but they have multiple locations always within walking distance and a couple really large tv's to keep you entertained.

Pickles & Ammo and Hamburgler had to see what that burger is all about. To say that it is "flame broiled" is an understatment. This hockey puck comes in at $5.50, or $7.50 for about 15 french fries. The extra charred flavoring alarmed Pickles & Ammo and he had this reflection while loitering on the smoking mezzanine:

Its pretty smokey out here, but I think my cancer is going to come from those charred carcinogens I'm digesting

Do you think there is a construction guide in the back to make this thing? At least the cheese is cold so you know it has been stored properly (ok.....we all know what the out come would be, lets leave it be already).

Well at least they have beer to wash it down. It's $8.00. Tip them a dollar and watch what happens though.

The Blaze
1 Center Court
Portland, OR 97227
(503)235-8771

Read more...

Michael's Italian Beef and Sausage Co.

Portland Hamburgler Pickles & Ammo usually goes with the "Chicago Style Combo" (thats Chicago style Italian Beef and Italian Sausage with peppers and onions), but had to see what the "Burger Italiano" was all about.

The "Burger Italiano" is more of a sub-sandwich then a burger, but the staples are there. Baked meatballs (without tomato sauce), mayo, lettuce, pickle, tomato, and optional peppers & onions. A whole one is $7.20, or half for 3.80.

As Pickles & Ammo put it:

Tasty

Michael's
1111 SE Sandy
Portland, OR 97214
(503)230-1899

Read more...

Beulahland UPDATE

UPDATED: 10/8/2007



Special Sauce, Snacks and Pic Wic have a return visit to Beulahland to get a handle on their vegiburger action.

We went to Beulahland for their Wednesday cheap burger night. From 6pm until the kitchen closes veggie burgers are $4 and meat are $3.

Special Sauce and Snacks went for the homemade veggie burgers(not vegan) one with cheese for and extra $0.50 and one without. This is one of our favorite veggie burgers in town though it can be a bit crumbly at times.

Snacks was disturbed by the brown mustard in the yellow mustard squeeze bottle. "It's like finding special sauce in the ketchup bottle". He was also saddened by the lack of weapon with this burger.

Pic Wic went for the Bacon Cheese burger. All burgers come with chips and not only a bonus side pickle but pickles on the burger too. And yes we were playing cribbage while snacking.

PREVIOUS POST: 9/5/2007


The "Hamburginator" chimes in after a recent stop at Beulahland with this tasty burger. I've experienced this one as well. Its not bad at all, but I always wish I had French Fries with it (I'll save the whining though...It's like complaining about a bar being smokey...kind of makes you look like an ass). Bonus Pickle!

Beulahland
118 NE 28th Ave.
Portland, OR 97232

Read more...

Burger Skills: Homemade Burger Budgeting

Karen Datko over at The Simple Dollar takes the McDonalds $1 cheeseburger on a burger battle with homemade burgers. Yep, she forgot a bunch of other factors (gas/storage/condiments/cooking), but still could probably win. Now, take on the double!

Anyway, there’s roughly three ounces of meat on the burger, plus cheese, ketchup and a bun, meaning you can make 16 burgers of equivalent size from three pounds of hamburger meat.

Using the Global Grocery List and other online sources, I obtained some prices for the materials you would need to construct 16 such cheeseburgers.

- 3 pounds hamburger @ $1.99 lb. = $5.97
- 16 slices cheese, store brand = $1.99
- 16 hamburger buns, actually 2 packs of 8 = $3.98
- 1 small bottle ketchup = $1.50
… for a total of $13.44. One doesn’t have to pay sales tax on these products as they’re staple foods. Sixteen McDonald's double cheeseburgers, on the other hand, cost $17.12.

If you want to do this in bulk, just grill all of the burgers, then freeze them, separating them with pieces of wax paper. Pull out however many you want per meal, warm them up, then assemble them with the bun and whatever items you want on it.

...In other words, you can make a healthier, tastier version of the McDonald's $1 double cheeseburger at home for less than $1 per sandwich. And if you can beat the lowest common denominator in fast food, you can easily beat the price point of most anything else you would eat out.

Photo by Valeribb with CC license.

Read more...

Pala Lounge

The BurgerBaron (not pictured) and friend go to Pala for burgers that aren't quite big enough for someone of his title.

They have a 1/2 pound Kobe Beef Burger there for $10.00? As far as I can tell this is a club (unaware there was still places with house music...hey, what do we know?) in the "Old Town date rape district".

These are two micro burgers from PALA on the happy hour menu for only $3, I think you are supposed to buy a drink too. I think it's well worth the money although I could probably eat about 6 of these things. Yummy burgers leaving me wanting more. I think they serve them until 10:45 or was it 9:45?

You can check out the BurgerBaron's other exploits at Millions of Hundred Dollar Ideas.

Pala Lounge
105 NW 3rd Ave.
Portland, OR 97209

Read more...

Art: The Real Deal Burger Cake

Next level! Thats not shaped like a hamburger? Nope. But, there is burger within. That there is a bonifed "Meat Cake" from Black Widow Bakery.

He went on to describe his ultimate wedding cake. "I hate that wedding cakes are all girly. There should be like a groom cake to go with the traditional wedding cake. A guy's cake. Like..made out of meat."

That thing is filled with ground beef, layered with Worcestershire and ketchup, covered in mashed potatos for frosting, then decorated with a drawing of a T-Bone.

I've never drawn a T-bone steak before. It didn't come out too bad, though there is a definite uterusy quality to it.

Read more...

Art: Hamburger Cakes

More like the culinary arts.

Hamburger cakes are actually popular. Just check out a Google image search and you'll see. Let us know if you come across any in the Portland area already.

This one is almost too perfect. It actually just might be a real hamburger disguised as a cake!






Mark Allen found this thing out in the wild:

At our giganternormousmegacropolisupermarket out here in “the hills,” Jim and I recently ran across a stellar display in the bakery department; tables covered with about 50 identical and freshly baked “hamburger cakes.” Each was sealed in its own clear plastic cake cover, and they were on sale for $6 a pop

Photos by Bunch of Pants, Wistine, Geek2Nurse with CC license.

Read more...

Hamburgers VS Halloween Costumes

Halloween is coming up soon and there is a plethora of hamburger and related costumes to choose from. Let us know if you happen to snap a shot of any local Halloween burgers out there.

He is a bit too "wacky" for me. Personally like the hat for "bonus pickles".
LINK: Available from Brandon Sale


You and your other can express themselves together as McDonalds burgers. (what happened to his legs?)
LINK: Available from Shop . com


This one is about $1000.00, but has available "cooling" accessories so you don't overheat.
LINK: Available from International Fun Shop


Available in "unisex".
LINK: Available from Spirit


Get your Hamburger-Helper. You know someone is going to rearrange the fingers by 10pm. This was made by Jupiter Crash over at Get Crafty


They will let anyone get into a hamburger related costume these days.

Read more...

Tonallis Burgers

AmericanCheese is quickly becoming one of the more daring Portland Hamburglers out there.

I don't think this place can decide if it wants to be a burger, burrito, sandwich, or breakfast joint. And it looks oddly like an Mexican A&W on the inside.

I think the old adage goes, if you try to do too many things, you probably can't do one thing well.

Anyway, got the bacon cheeseburger. Not bad, but not great. Yellow mustard but no ketchup on the burger? Chopped romaine lettuce? Weird.

Oh, and they forgot my bacon... and they cooked it right up and brought it out to me in a hotdog wrapper. Best bacon I've ever had. Good fries, too.

Tonallis Burgers
438 NE Killingsworth
Portland, OR 97211
(503)284-6491

Read more...

The Semaphore

CondimentSpreader gets offered to have hashbrowns and gravy on the burger....so close to finding the breakfast burger.

You've probably passed by The Semaphore and not noticed it. It sits right in the parking lot of a tiny strip mall in industrial SE, but seems to have been there forever. Another "head straight for the lounge" stops.

Good, straightforward burger. No nonsense. Really Cold Pabst. And they'll put an egg, bacon, sausauge, ham, hashbrowns and gravy on top of it too.

I didn't step to it.

Semaphore
1639 SE Holgate Blvd.
Portland, OR 97202
(503)238-1244

Read more...

Art: Hamburger Eyes

Burger art action. Well, not directly, but with a name like "Hamburger Eyes" you have to give them some love. If you like photography try and pick up a copy, or if you are photographer in Portland send them something already so we can point at it and say "I know where/who/what that is!".

LINK: Hamburger Eyes

Read more...

Besaws

More Strawberry Mountain Beef at Besaws in NW Portland. 6 oz. (thats about 1/3 of a pound for you Americans out there) patty "California Style" with potato salad and house salad.

Burgers start at $8.00 (Gardenburger and Turkeyburgers available as well).

Your mom loves this place.

Besaws
2301 NW Savier
Portland, OR 97210
(503)228-2619

Read more...

Contest: Sutter Home

The Sutter Home "Build A Better Burger" contest has a winner!

Our new local hero Karen Bernards from McMinnville Oregon took home the $50,000 grand prize (you could eat so many burgers with that amount of scratch).

She did it with "Sweet-Hot Thai Burgers" that included a Cilantro Mayo, Thai Salad, and patties stuffed with Kettle Thai Chips with chili sauce.

Congratulations Karen!

Check out the other contenders burgers as well at Sutter Home for great burger ideas.

Read more...

Gladstone Pub

CondimentSpreader is back on the burger trail and burgering pretty hard. Lots more from him soon.

A new-ish tavern on SE Gladstone that serves craft brews. They don't open until 3pm but seem to have a much better menu than most taverns.

I'd been hearing about this burger for months. Probably five different burger choices here. I went for the Jalapeno burger with fresh peppers and pepper jack. This thing was huge and can be cooked to temperature. Probably more for the "I want a good meal" crowd, and not for the grease mongers.

Gladstone Pub
3737 SE Gladstone St.
Portland, OR 97202
(503)775-3502

Read more...

Shanghai Tunnel

Vegiburger alert (vegan also available) from Portland Hamburglers "SpecialSauce" and "Snacks". Looks like the empire is re-expanding as well.

"SpecialSauce" and "Snacks" headed to the Shanghai Tunnel for happy hour burgers.

The B.O.M.B. is their homemade black bean burger (vegan upon request). Comes with lettuce tomato and red onions. Add cheese for a buck. Comes with fries.

A steal at $4 at happy hour. $6 normal. Add a Pabst for $1. Beer and a burger for $5.

"Snacks" was a little saddened by the lack of plain mustard (just dijon) but is happy with any food that comes with a weapon.

We didn't sample them but they also have the B.A.M.F. Meat burger. $6 at happy hour and $8 regular price.

Bonus Pinball!

Shanghai Tunnel
211 SW Ankeny St.
Portland, OR 97204
(503)220-4001

Read more...

Links: Minimize Me

This is the diet I'm sure a bunch of folks around here have been looking for. Hamburgers. And, it appears to be working in that video. A Sweed named Johan is all giving us something to believe in at MinimizeMe by documenting his burger consumption and weight loss. He is currently at 166 hamburgers.


Link: MinimizeMe ( via A Hamburger Today)

Read more...