1122 SE Hawthorne Blvd

Burgerville.com

Date of Visit: November 10, 2009

Price for 1: $7.59

Jared hates Burgerville. For that reason he made it a point that if we were going to do this blog project, we were not including chains, so we wouldn’t have to go there. I should note though, the reason Jared hates Burgerville is because you need a key to get into the bathroom and one time he tried to use the WiFi and it didn’t work. And I, on the other hand, really like the place.

Yes Burgerville is a fast food joint, but it’s so much better than your average fast food restaurant. The biggest reason being that they use local ingredients and the menu changes with the season. Since it’s almost Thanksgiving, a few items with cranberry, pumpkin and sweet potatoes are available. Personally, my favorite season at Burgerville is early summer because that’s when they have Strawberry Lemonade. I have literally slammed on to brakes and swerved across lanes of traffic when I noticed the sign for it.

Today I got to go to Burgerville because Jared decided to work from home. Since it has a drive thru, it’s a perfect option to grab something quick and bring it back to the office to eat, and that’s what I did. I figured I might as we branch out from my usual crispy chicken  basket and got the season special burger: a turkey burger with cranberry salsa. I’ll be honest, from the picture and description, I wasn’t really sure about it, but I figured what the hell.

When I took my first bite of this gourmet burger, I must say I was pleasantly surprised. The salsa was sweet with a little kick and I like how not-greasy the turkey burger was. The whole wheat bun really tied the whole the together. But as I kept eating it, I found it getting less appealing with every bite, and by halfway through I really wished I just went with a normal menu item. It seems like this is how it goes with all the season sandwiches, really. They are good, but a little much, and there’s something to be said for a classic burger. Luckily, Burgerville has those too. I’d like to say next time I’ll make a better choice, but I know I won’t. I’m a sucker for limited time items! Oh well.

Veggie options: Since they switched to the Harvest Burger patties a while back, the veggie burgers are actually not that good.

Speed: It’s a damn drive thru

Turkey burger with cranberry salsa basket

2230 SE Hawthorne Blvd

http://www.grandcentralbakery.com/store_hawthorne.html

Date of visit: November 6, 2009

Price for 2: $18.65

Before we started this blog project, we hit up Grand Central almost every week. The funny thing is, my only real issue with it was I thought it was a little on the spendy side. Now that I’ve tried tons of different places and seen what’s out there, I’m pretty sure that Grand Central Bakery is actually one of the best lunch options on Hawthorne, in terms of price and quality.

As the name implies, the star of the sandwiches here is the fresh-baked bread. Different sandwiches come on different breads, everything  from baguettes to como bread to calamata olive bread. From reading this blog you might notice that I am partial to tuna melts, and honestly, I usually get a tuna tosti, which is “Herb and caper tuna salad and sharp white cheddar cheese served hot on Sourdough.” But I stared feeling self concious that people might think I was some weird George Costanza-type, and today I got a special, the pulled pork sandwich. Unlike most things on the menu it came with a side of coleslaw in addition to the usual pickle and at $6.25 was definitely a good deal. The sandwich was awesome, super soft bread, tender pork and flavorful BBQ sauce. Super simple and on par with “authentic” pulled pork I’ve had in the south. It wasn’t particularly messy either, which was nice. As for the coleslaw, it wasn’t the best I’ve had in Portland (that is a tie between the Delta Cafe and Clay’s Smokehouse) but it did have a nice texture and decent flavor (I would have preferred it a little sweeter.)

The coleslaw was a definitely bonus. Usually, sandwiches don’t come with a side (just a pickle) and you have to opt for the “sack lunch” that adds $1.80 to the price. Jared always goes for this option, which includes chips and a cookie, and I usually just steal a few chips from him. (He’ll tell you, I always steal his food.) I guess this would be another gripe with this place though, I would way rather get a drink than a cookie with my meal deal. But that’s just me, I don’t really care for sweets.

Speed: Pretty average for fresh made sandwiches

Veggie options: Several sandwiches and usually at least one special

Mediterranean Tosti Sack Lunch

Pulled Pork Sandwich

12th and Hawthorne

Date of visit: November 4, 2009

Price for 1: $9

I don’t particularly like to eat outside. I hate eating outside. I don’t care about the autumn breeze. In fact, that’s part of why I hate it. My ungroomed, overly long hair ends up in my face, and there’s no telling what’s going to land in your food next. I tend to leave picnics to the birds, but that’s just me.

Now that we’ve gotten that part out of the way, today was likely one of the last “nice” days of the fall/winter season, and we figured hitting up Hawthorne’s cart pods was best done in the sun.  There is some cover at the carts, but I can imagine a rainy day being rather moist beneath the canopies. For more on the overall “what’s offered at the carts” check out Brooke’s previous post, on what she ate. We each went to different carts, so I’ll focus my saltiness on my choice, El Brasero, or “the Mexican one.”

The nice thing about food carts is they’re typically cheap, for (in Portland at least) the amazing food you get. Some of them send you off with two meals worth of eats for around $5 (India Chaat House downtown comes to mind). But the carts on Hawthorne aren’t quite as cheap. This pod caters mostly to the late night bar crowd (some, like the popular Whiffies, don’t even open ’til the evening hours), and under those conditions your judgement can be, well, clouded. That’s not to say the food wasn’t good. The vegetarian burrito I got at El Brasero was actually really good for what it was (rice, beans, cheese, lettuce, tomato). But at $7 for the burrito alone, I felt like I could have had a roof over my head. A canopy seems more like a $4-$5 burrito covering.

El Brasero did have a nice variety of vegetarian options, and it was a good burrito. The tortilla was particularly good. But $9 for the burrito and Jarritos soda was a bit too Manhattan in price.

Would I go back? I wouldn’t go out of my way like I would say, Los Gorditos, but the burrito was good, so I wouldn’t run for the hills.

Speed: Quick

Veggie options: Solid vegetarian menu.

12th and Hawthorne

Date of visit: November 4, 2009

Price for 1: $10

It was a lovely and unseasonably warm fall day in Portland, so we decided it was time to try the carts on the corner of 12th and Hawthorne. I should note that this is really more of a “drunk at 1 am” kind of spot than a lunch spot, but a few of the carts are open for business during lunch hours. The only real reason we’d never eaten at any of them before is Jared hates eating outside. But I will let him explain that because he going to guest blog about the Mexican cart he ate at while I tried out Bubba Bernie’s BBQ cart.

Before we get to the food though, I feel like I need to talk about how amazingly ridiculous this whole set up is. Only in Portland are food carts actually known for their quality of food. You can find some incredible cuisine in these semi-permanent structures all over the city. The Hawthorne cart pod includes 7 carts, but only 3 of them (El Brasero, Peirerra Creperie and Bubba Bernie’s) were open during our visit. But enough about that.

At Bubba Bernie’s, I ordered a breaded catfish Po’ Boy, which must be a popular item since the next three people to walk up ordered it as well. And I had plenty of time to observe what people ordered because my sandwich literally took 20 minutes to be ready. Now I will admit we were on the early side, and the lone worker was obviously still setting things up, but he also happened to the the slowest human being in existence. After waiting a few minutes for him to notice I was even standing there, I ordered and he let me know in his mellow hippie tone it would be a few minutes. About five minutes later he stuck his dredded head out of the cart to inform me of a total bum out, man. Apparently he’d forgotten to turn on the fryer when he arrived for the day. Since I still wanted the the same thing, and I had no where to be, I said I’d wait. I had about 15 minutes to enjoy the sunshine and watched befuddled hipsters walk around trying to decide what to eat before a sandwich finally came out. Jared was long done by the time I got to eat. Fucking hippies.

The good news: It was delicious. Flaky fish with crispy skin, flavorful remoulade and fresh veggies. It was everything I wanted in a catfish po boy, except maybe some chips on the side.

Speed: LOL

Veggie options: Like all the carts, there’s a pretty solid vegetarian menu.

Breaded Catfish Po Boy

915 SE Hawthorne Blvd
www.luckylab.com

Date of visit: Nov 2, 2009

Price for 2 $19.20

With all of our Hawthorning, this week we decided to mix it up a little bit. So on Monday, after staring at each other for a bit trying to decide where else we should go, we eventually gave up and drove towards Hawthorne. But as we got close, brilliance struck! We decided to go the OTHER WAY, and see what 1st through 10th aves had to offered. As it turns out, not too much. One seedy looking bar, one seedy looking strip club and the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub. Since I wasn’t in the mood for a greasy burger and boobs, Lucky Lab it was.

From the outside it almost looked closed, as the main seating area is down a hallway in the back. Inside it’s basically a giant hall with tables and a bar, from which you walk up and order food and beer. We were there on a Monday, which happens to be “Miser Monday,” featuring a dollar-off pints. I resisted lunch beers though cause I had work to do, and went with an iced tea instead.

Since the menu board didn’t specify what the sandwiches came with, we started with an order of chips and salsa, just to be safe. (As it turns out, all the sandwiches come with your choice of potato chips or tortilla chips.) Though obviously store bought, the chips were good and salty. The pico they came with was ok, but kind of tasted like the stuff you get in a tub in the refridgerated section of the grocery store. It could have been housemade, but just old…They did grab the chips for us right away though, which was nice.

Sandwiches were delivered to our table after a few minutes. Jared went with the Super Spy, which is Spicy Cream Cheese, Cucumber, Lettuce & Tomato on a Ciabatta Bun. His review: “Spicy, as advertised.” I got the half sandwich soup combo with a tuna melt and tortilla soup. Tortilla soup is one of those things that I always order, and then realize that I don’t really like. Well, I should say that. I have had two versions of it that I absolutely loved (both from Mexican restaurants) but I need to stop ordering it from American spots. It sort or reminded me of watered-down chili with tough chunks of chicken in it. The Tuna Melt, however, was awesome. Super simple, italian bread, melty swiss cheese, tomato slices, and good tuna. I definitely will just go for the full one if we go back.

Overall, Lucky Lab was good and fairly affordable. I think next time I go will be on a day I really need a lunch beer though!

Speed: Good

Veggie options: A pretty long list of sandwich options.

Chips and salsa

Super Spy

Tuna melt with tortilla soup