cooking fever restaurant after hell's kitchen

Across the city, cooks are paying homage to the cheeseburger icons, among them: McDonald's Big Mac (double decker with special sauce), Shake Shack’s ShackBurger (thin, fast-griddled smash burger with lettuce, tomato, and special sauce on a potato roll), and In-N-Out's cheeseburger (frilly lettuce, tomato, onion, and “secret sauce”). To wit: three of the city's best classic cheeseburgers were born in this godforsaken upside-down world.

The movement is still steaming, incomprehensibly, during the pandemic. Food carts kicked it off a few years back, followed by Super Deluxe's drive-through rebirth and miles-long line of cars.

We're in the midst of a Burger Reformation. Now, in Portland dining's darkest hour, as the very places that won his heart and stomach hang by their fingernails, Ozerky's burger heaven has arrived. But good luck finding a transcendent exaltation of the humble American icon, with its molten American cheese and squishy bun. Weird-ass chef burgers were everywhere, stacked with barbecued pork or perhaps, dear God, donuts. “Where are the burgers?” he bellowed incessantly. But his hunger was not truly sated before he died in 2015. He found it here, calling Portland “America's New Food Eden” in Time magazine.

He prowled the city for honest Americana food, fuel for his legendary anti-modern food screens. Ten years ago, New York food writer Josh Ozersky barreled into Portland for a 36-hour food binge.

Cooking fever restaurant after hell's kitchen