JavaScript is disabled
Our website requires JavaScript to function properly. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser settings before proceeding.
Well, I tried to find this thread but resurrected another one from 2011! Oops.:oops:

New Years Eve my wife and I hit up Lil Cooperstown in Willamette for a bite to eat. We hadn't been in there for ages. The menu has chanced, prices are up and the service was darn good. I had the Blue Bacon burger with tots and it was fantastic, but for $15 it damn well better be!

View attachment 417615

They do make a decent burger - and I've had the one you're talking about. Though I prefer their French Dip. I also like any place that offers tots instead of fries. The service and quality at the Willamette location seems to be better than the OC location.
 
The burgers at Bandits (formerly The Brass Rail) in Troutdale are tops. Honorable mention goes to the Black and Blue burger at Skyland Pub. It's been at least a year since I was at either of these places... I hope they haven't changed.

Worst I've had in PDX was the Burgerville at 162nd/Division. This is a bad store in an otherwise decent chain.
 
Last Edited:
the first White Castle (at this late date, maybe it was some other chain) I ever saw was in PDX around 15th & Foster circa 1972ish. I fell for it, ordering a bag of what others called 'sliders'.....

Whatever/whoever they were, the product did slide down the gullet quite easily....

they also initiated a system emergency purging that would have maimed or crippled a lesser man.....

I was going to return to see if my first encounter was some sort of anomaly but never got up the courage to try 'em again. :confused: Don't know if any similar outfit is still in business.
 
the first White Castle (at this late date, maybe it was some other chain) I ever saw was in PDX around 15th & Foster circa 1972ish. I fell for it, ordering a bag of what others called 'sliders'.....

Whatever/whoever they were, the product did slide down the gullet quite easily....

they also initiated a system emergency purging that would have maimed or crippled a lesser man.....

I was going to return to see if my first encounter was some sort of anomaly but never got up the courage to try 'em again. :confused: Don't know if any similar outfit is still in business.
Sounds about like a typical Taco HellBell experience for me... a Bowl Blaster measurable on the Richter scale.
 
the first White Castle (at this late date, maybe it was some other chain)...
No Whitey's this far west. I grew up on those things in St Louis... I generally down 8, no cheese, no doubles, no fries, onion rings, or any other sides to ruin my "experience".
My one and only lament about never returning to the midwest is the lack of freshly-greased WC belly-bombers, hot off the grill.

When I drove OTR I knew every WC location near an interstate highway that I could park a truck within walking distance of. I'm sorry that you're experience was bad, but it wasn't WC. If it was a WC, it still would have been horrible, but BETTER.
 
I've lived in that hood since 1983. For 13 years we rented a house a block from the Spare Room. Was the bar was called "Magoo's" maybe? I don't remember a burger big as a plate though. But the food was really good. Joy was the gal that owned it. Every other Friday was taco Friday, for free. They made these incredible twice cook Jo Jo type spuds. Sadly Magoo's went in the toilet when Joy sold it, failed a coupel of times and now there's some pizza joint there. There was a place North at Killingsworth that was called Mr Burger but they didn't have huge burger. It was good though. It is now a very good Mexican place called "Ole Frijole".

"The Spare Room" It's become our favorite "early, rainy day, bloody Mary, video poker, breakfast place". They open 7:00am every day. Even on Christmas Day. The BMs are served in pints. There's the coolest group of swing/graveyard shift guys that are there every time we've been in. Drinks/beers are cheap and so is the food. They frequently have live music but the place can get kind of sketchy at night.

That sounds like the place.
 
They do make a decent burger - and I've had the one you're talking about. Though I prefer their French Dip. I also like any place that offers tots instead of fries. The service and quality at the Willamette location seems to be better than the OC location.

We used to go there frequently, but stopped a few years ago because of poor service. This was the first time back since then. I was pleasantly surprised. Only ate at the OC location once and it wasn't terrible, but nothing to write home about...
 
BlockChain Coming to a Burger Joint near you. Little Big Burger in PDX, Hooters, etc.
Brands - Chanticleer Holdings Inc. (BURG)

"Eating a burger is now a way to mine for cryptocoins," said Dennis Becker, CEO of Mobivity, the company that's helping Chanticleer jump on the cryptocurrency bandwagon. "Every meal enjoyed at any Chanticleer Holdings brand will accrue currency for the consumer that can be used for future meals or traded with other consumers."

Chanticleer Holdings owns a number of different brands, most of them burger-related. These include Little Big Burger in the Northwest, American Burger Co. on the East Coast, and the national BGR chain.

Evidently, the stock market believes that putting these restaurants' reward programs on the blockchain raises their value by around 50 percent.

What's the advantage of blockchain-based rewards?

"Mobivity Merit is real cryptocurrency, leveraging the same infrastructure and principles of bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, litecoin," Chanticleer CEO Michael Pruitt says in the company's press release. Rather than being locked into one specific rewards program, customers will be able to transfer their reward points across multiple restaurants. Meanwhile, the Mobivity blockchain will help companies track their customers' preferences, allowing them to provide more personalized service. "
 
I guess I'm less critical, and at the same time less praising, of most hamburgers than most folks. Most places, a hamburger is a hamburger, and I reckon I gotta eat something.

A lot of sloppy salad fixin's on a hamburger does not necessarily make it good. Good meat makes it good. No longer available, but the Wheel Burger at the Wheel in Oregon City was my best hamburger ever. They unfortunately are gone, after many decades.

There are two places that make an acceptable hamburger such that I make return visits. But I still wont say they are anywhere close to great. Fuddruckers and 5-Guys. And Fuddruckers blocked this site when I was connected to their wifi.:mad:

And I've never had a "good" Red Robin's burger. I do not get their popularity. A huge bun does not automatically make the hamburger good. In this case, I think it's less than good.
 
Last Edited:
I guess I'm less critical, and at the same time less praising, of most hamburgers than most folks. Most places, a hamburger is a hamburger, and I reckon I gotta eat something.

A lot of sloppy salad fixin's on a hamburger does not necessarily make it good. Good meat makes it good. No longer available, but the Wheel Burger at the Wheel in Oregon City was my best hamburger ever. They unfortunately are gone, after many decades.

There are two places that make an acceptable hamburger such that I make return visits. But I still wont say they are anywhere close to great. Fuddruckers and 5-Guys.

And I've never had a "good" Red Robin's burger. I do not get their popularity. A huge bun does not automatically make the hamburger good. In this case, I think it's less than good.

There was a Frack Burger on Barbur Blvd in SW Portland for a few years. They made a fine burger and had good beers. Fries? Meh. They're closed now.

The name of a place shouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker when it comes to good food, but it was a friend's recommendation that made me go there, not their sign. I wonder how many hungry people drove right past there over the years because they didn't know what the frack a frack was.

Big fan of Fuddruckers (speaking of odd names) and 5 Guys.

Favorite burger/fries/beer meal at present is Killer Burger.
 
There was a Frack Burger on Barbur Blvd in SW Portland for a few years. They made a fine burger and had good beers. Fries? Meh. They're closed now.

The name of a place shouldn't necessarily be a deal breaker when it comes to good food, but it was a friend's recommendation that made me go there, not their sign. I wonder how many hungry people drove right past there over the years because they didn't know what the frack a frack was.

Big fan of Fuddruckers (speaking of odd names) and 5 Guys.

Favorite burger/fries/beer meal at present is Killer Burger.


Frack's...Forgot about them. Started out really good, but then he got too big for himself and started opening more stores. As he turned operations over to youngsters, the quality, the cleanliness, and especially the service took a nose dive. I do not know of any locations still in business.
 
I guess I'm less critical, and at the same time less praising, of most hamburgers than most folks. Most places, a hamburger is a hamburger, and I reckon I gotta eat something.

A lot of sloppy salad fixin's on a hamburger does not necessarily make it good. Good meat makes it good. No longer available, but the Wheel Burger at the Wheel in Oregon City was my best hamburger ever. They unfortunately are gone, after many decades.

There are two places that make an acceptable hamburger such that I make return visits. But I still wont say they are anywhere close to great. Fuddruckers and 5-Guys. And Fuddruckers blocked this site when I was connected to their wifi.:mad:

And I've never had a "good" Red Robin's burger. I do not get their popularity. A huge bun does not automatically make the hamburger good. In this case, I think it's less than good.

I was only in The Wheel a couple of times and food wasn't in my sights then. :p But I recently noticed that corner changed and was kinda sad about that. I hate seeing long standing establishments go away.
Fuddruckers? Man, that was ages ago that I went, but, eh, Five guys? Yup, good burger. Fries suck though, if you ask me.

Red Robin... I decided to buy dinner the other night instead of using the gift certificates I have. (Man, that sounds kinda snotty!)
 
I was only in The Wheel a couple of times and food wasn't in my sights then. :p But I recently noticed that corner changed and was kinda sad about that. I hate seeing long standing establishments go away.
Fuddruckers? Man, that was ages ago that I went, but, eh, Five guys? Yup, good burger. Fries suck though, if you ask me.

Red Robin... I decided to buy dinner the other night instead of using the gift certificates I have. (Man, that sounds kinda snotty!)

You remember I worked at the mill nearly 40 years, so I spent a goodly amount of time in The Wheel. Both sides of it.:rolleyes: And the 505. And Art's. And Howell's. And Barry's. Especially with the mill closing, that end of Main Street had mostly died. Now the bars and restaurants have become yuppified, and the complexion is completely changed. I've not been back to the 505 since they became the Somethin or other Duck, and I've not been in the coffee shop that occupies the Wheel property, especially since they erased the mural of the mill that was painted on the building during the Oregon Trail celebration.
 
Last Edited:
I've not been in the coffee shop that occupies the Wheel property, especially since they erased the mural of the mill that was painted on the building at the Oregon Trail celebration.

I saw that, too, and wondered who the heck would be so ignorant to paint over that scene?

I'm liking less people every day.
 
I note the McMinamins franchise seems to remain missing.

Taking the leap, I have long appreciated their notion of 'preservation of historic structures'.
Some of the eateries are almost to my taste, although given the similarity in menu and those otherwise unexplainable nuances of chef/kitchen/service, it's hard to make any coherent posting.

I have long admired Edgefields and have stayed a number of times, in the monk's chambers/crazy guy lodging.

With a half-day rest built in my schedule, I took the 3-floor tour of the wall paintings, said to be direct clones of art work of the inhabitants of a hundred years ago. Mind boggling and well worth the time.
The food was good ++ as well as the 'Black Rabbit' was then on line.

A buddy with CDO snatched up an early 'Tour Member Booklet' and spent a solid year pursuing every effort to get his ticket stamped at all locations. His enthusiasm certainly exceeded mine, but I did over a year manage to see some otherwise I would have missed....and I still have more than half of them I'd consider going for a meal.

I last drank beer/threw peanut shells on the floor/and enjoyed 'Fly by Night Jass Band' from the 1974ish era.
White Eagle now includes them as a property, but I neverNEVER get to PDX for such these days.

I've had more-or-less burgers at a handful of the Bros McMinnamin; prefer the soup/chowder and the tots.
 
McMenamins. We called them McMillionaires. :D

In the late 90's and through the 2000's we ate at McMenamins often. Been to Edgefield a few times. Kennedy School. Barleycorns. I can't even remember the names of countless McMillionaires we visited. The beer was consistently good. The food similar. Today I would not call either stellar, but it was always decent. Their atmosphere was always the draw, too bad their service might not be... I liked their garden burger better than their burger, but often had the High Pasta. With a Hammerhead, please. :)
 
McMenamins. We called them McMillionaires. :D

In the late 90's and through the 2000's we ate at McMenamins often. Been to Edgefield a few times. Kennedy School. Barleycorns. I can't even remember the names of countless McMillionaires we visited. The beer was consistently good. The food similar. Today I would not call either stellar, but it was always decent. Their atmosphere was always the draw, too bad their service might not be... I liked their garden burger better than their burger, but often had the High Pasta. With a Hammerhead, please. :)


Explain this one to me Batman.

When McMenamins moved into the Catholic Church/Funeral Home in downtown Oregon City, I used to go there for their French Dips. Then one day they changed it to a turkey dip, and said beef was no longer available in their restaurant. Since I almost never buy a high dollar sit-down restaurant hamburger, I would not know, but did they eliminate hamburgers from their menu there, also at that time? And why would they eliminate French dips at that location when they were still available at other locations?
 
Explain this one to me Batman.

When McMenamins moved into the Catholic Church/Funeral Home in downtown Oregon City, I used to go there for their French Dips. Then one day they changed it to a turkey dip, and said beef was no longer available in their restaurant. Since I almost never buy a high dollar sit-down restaurant hamburger, I would not know, but did they eliminate hamburgers from their menu there, also at that time? And why would they eliminate French dips at that location when they were still available at other locations?

That is strange. Unfortunately strange was consistent with the management of the McMillionaires branches... The OC location always baffled me. How could so many servers walk right by a table and not offer service? (very simple floor plan with one cirular path thru establishment) I felt like I had to trip a server on their way by to get any attention!
 

Upcoming Events

Tillamook Gun & Knife Show
Tillamook, OR
"The Original" Kalispell Gun Show
Kalispell, MT
Teen Rifle 1 Class
Springfield, OR
Kids Firearm Safety 2 Class
Springfield, OR

New Resource Reviews

New Classified Ads

Back Top