Little Bird Portland
Arguably, in many people’s opinions, Portland’s Le Pigeon is one of the finest restaurants around. When the chef decided to open outlet # 2, ‘son of Le Pigeon” he called on his culinary skill to make a downsized, casual version, “Little Bird Bistro,” across from the US Bank Tower in Portland.
Featuring a wide variety of traditional bistro foods, Little Bird also delights with rarities like bone marrow. (Mrs BDB will be pleased.)
But my burger companion, Portland Attorney William Du Val, and I, went for the burgers, of course, tho I will (spoiler alert) be back many times to cruise thru the rest of the menu!
Described on the menu only as “Le Pigeon Burger”, the meat (I don’t know the supplier, asked, got a vague answer), comes perched between and betwixt a fantastic roll from Ken’s – I almost didn’t get to the burger, the table bread (Grand Central) was so nummy, and has a light cheese, bacon, pickled onion, greens and house sauce. Your choice of fries or greens with that, for $12. It’s a hefty patty, maybe 1/3 pound, so thank goodness the roll the picked can support it. Nevertheless, we were both inclined to cut ours in half to tackle them.
Bun? Excellent. Meat? Excellent. Condiments? Excellent. Fries? Excellent. Fry sauce? Excellent.
This guy hits the mark, and will surely be the new standard for Portland burgers, where we seemingly have a five-way tie for “best of”, in my own opinion.
Of some locales, they say “don’t like the weather, wait an hour, it will change!” That’s certainly not true here, where it has been raining for 72 years straight.
But we have our own little miracle. Think that burger is the best you’ve ever had? Wait a week, there will be another great one!
Take your loved one to a romantic evening out at Little Bird. S/he will love you forever.
(Incidentally, we got there at 11:38 and could be seated right away. By straight up noon, there was a wait list.)
Le Pigeon Burger
Little Bird Dining Room
Damned odd thing. It’s named Le Pigeon Burger and cautions that raw egg are among its ingredients. There’s an obvious conclusion there, though I doubt on reflection that it’s accurate.
I didn’t discover the ingredients used in the hamburger sauce. Damned delicious!
The fries are twice-fried, first long at low temperature, then quickly at high temperature. Finally, they are tossed in marrow butter with parsley and salted. Yummy! They’re crisp on the outside and soft on the inside.
Mrs. Jebedee had the bone marrow after she downed a salad with frisée, pork belly and poached egg with a vinaigrette. The rest of it — roasted mushrooms, crème brûlée, fried beef tongue — is outside the focus of BDP interest. (Oh, alright… Jill raved about the salad. Bone marrow and mushrooms were excellent. The crème brûlée was so-so. The beef tongue was covered with way too much batter to be good.)
A bonus dessert looked like miniature burgers, but they were blood orange macaroons with chocolate filling. Yummy!
Ours was an evening meal: reservations required. The adventure started at a cramped table next to a packed bar where recorded music played loudest. We asked to be moved before taking our seats. Our second table was over the bar, from where your photo of the bistro was taken. The difference is remarkable. Music is subdued and the dull roar of restaurant conversation (necessarily elevated above the level of the music) seemed distant.
If the place is called Little Bird, why is Petit Oiseau on the front door? It took me f-o-r-e-v-e-r to find it online. I didn’t realize that translation was needed.
Jill and I plan to be regulars there, for the salad and the burger.