Eat Me
30 Finger-lickin', fixin-drippin' masterpieces, from high-end to drive-in that will cure your burger lust
Edited by Kasey Cordell
EXOTIC
The Brunch Box
The first time we laid eyes on the Brunch Box’s YouCanHasCheeseburger ($5), we felt a flutter of love in our chest. Or maybe our heart was having anticipatory palpitations. After all, this food cart’s mammoth sandwich combines two ultimate comfort foods into one artery-clogging meal: a quarter-pound Black Angus beef patty with all the fixings (lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard) snuggled between two grilled-cheese sandwiches made with Texas toast (and American cheese, of course). You’ll never go back to buns again. We’re pretty sure the YouCanHasCheeseburger is on the menu in heaven. Just limit your intake, or you might find out sooner than you’d like. —KC
SW Fifth Ave & Stark St; 503-477-3286; brunchboxpdx.blogspot.com
Runners-Up
Davis Street Tavern Strip Loin Burger, $10 A half pound of ground sirloin topped with sharp Tillamook cheddar, braised pork belly, jamlike homemade ketchup, and romaine lettuce on a fresh-baked sesame-seed bun. 500 NW Davis St; 503-505-5050; davisstreettavern.com
The Original Voodoo Doughnut Burger, $7.95 Cascade Natural beef and Tillamook cheddar wedged between two halves of a glazed Voodoo doughnut. 300 SW Sixth Ave; 503-546-2666; originaldinerant.com
HEAVY WEIGHTS
Kenny & Zuke’s Delicatessen
As if Kenny & Zuke’s couldn’t sell enough pastrami on its classic sandwiches, downtown’s busiest deli has now taken the hamburger and topped it with the stuff. Pastrami that’s been brined, smoked, and steamed in-house over the course of a week sits atop a half-pound Cascade Natural beef patty like a crown on an Olympian. Draped with swiss or cheddar, this regal meat parade takes a trip through an overhead broiler, where it’s licked with flames until the cheese gets gooey, before being delivered to its final throne: a fresh-baked, seedless white bun smeared with Russian dressing full of tangy green onions, capers, and horseradish. Six inches tall and weighing nearly a pound, the pastrami burger ($12.75) is a meal fit for a king—with plenty to share with his queen, and prince, and princess. —Brian Barker
1038 SW Stark St; 503-222-3354; kennyandzukes.com
Runners-Up
Screen Door Backyard Burger, $10 Ten ounces of free-range sirloin beef topped with bacon, a fried egg, crispy shoestring onions, and pimento cheese. 2337 E Burnside St; 503-542-0880; screendoorrestaurant.com
Helvetia Tavern Jumbo Cheeseburger, $8.25 Two quarter-pound patties of Aloha’s Ponderosa Provisioners beef, chopped iceberg lettuce, American cheese, and homemade mayo-mustard “goop” on a sesame-seed bun. 10275 NW Helvetia Rd, Hillsboro;503-647-5286
Published: August 2009
