Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!

Posts Tagged ‘Food blog’

Chicken Fried Bacon

If you haven’t hit Slappy Cakes in SE Portland, because you think it’s just for kids, you’ve missed one of the best breakfasts in town.

Although children of all ages will enjoy the concept of making their own pancakes right at the table – choose from a type of batter and a wide selection of both sweet and savory toppings, the full-service menu offers hidden breakfast gems the quality of which are rare on the Portland breakfast scene.

We ventured over on Wednesday morning (because we hear it can be a madhouse on weekends), with visiting nephew in tow, and he delighted in squeezing buttermilk pancake batter (out of a ketchup style condiment bottle) onto the griddle and tossing in chocolate chips and raisins. 

The batter and griddle are perfect for cooking up a batch of virtually no fail flapjacks, and the buttermilk cakes are great just on their own.

But delve into the full service menu offerings (adult beverages as well), and you’ll find great finds like chicken fried bacon with a caramel sauce; country fried steak with potatoes, crispy on the outside, pillowy soft inside, reminiscent of New Orleans famous “Brabant style” potatoes. Cover all that with sausage gravy. Man oh man.

Mrs. Burgerdogboy went with the Huevos Rancheros, and offered me a smidgen of a taste as she scarfed up her plate.  I have to say, it was delicious.   The concoction rests on a pile of ‘secretly-seasonsed’ beans which are to die for.

Other interesting choices include congee,  pork belly benedict, and an interesting sounding mushroom scramble.  Yes, veggie offerings as well.

Slappy Cakes, where have you been my entire breakfast life?  I am in love! 

Country Fried Steak and Potatoes

 

Jerry's Pizzeria, Canoga Park, CA

I was tooling around the San Fernando Valley the other day, looking for sustenance, when I spotted Jerry’s Pizzeria on Sherman Way.  I found a parking place in the pack, and noted it was right next to a deli proclaiming they had “L.A.’s #1 sandwich.”  Hmm, dilemma.

As I had a scheduled lunch date at a place the next day who also purported to have L.A.’s favorite sandwich, Jerry’s won out.

I used to live fairly close to this neighborhood, but had never been in Jerry’s before, even tho they have apparently been around since the dawning of time.

Walking in through the back door, I was in a fairly large room with a lot of tables and chairs, a few video games, and amidst of local hangers-on who didn’t really seem to be customers or workers.  Maybe neighborhood guys who stop by to have a beer and watch TV.

I went to the counter and ordered a 12″ pepperoni, sausage, with extra cheese, and was told it would be ready in the standard 15 minutes.   I walked down the street in search of a mini mart to pick up a few things, and gaze into the window of “LA’s #1 sandwich.”  There was a line of people waiting for sandwich orders.

Picked up the pie and headed back to the air conditioned deliciousness of my motel room.  Opened the box and found a fairly nice looking pie crowding the box’s confines.  A “New York style” thin crust, and I immediately noted they prepare the sausage in the same manner of most NY pie shops, thin sliced link Italian sliced on bias.  The pepperoni gave off a little oily appearance, which indicates a higher fat content, and fat usually equals flavor.

Cheese was more than ample, and the pie appeared baked to my idea of perfection.  A little char on a crispy crust, with chewiness sure to appear as you worked your way inward.

Picked up a slice, it had nice “hang”, but to my delight, the toppings stayed in place.

The crust was as I imagined, the sauce unobtrusive, and the cheese was real, not “pizza topping.”

This is a good pie.  Funny I missed it the times I lived in L.A.  I shall return.

Jerry's Pizzeria, Canoga Park, CA

 

Olive Pit, Corning, CA

What does an out of business burger chain in the midwest and an olive retailer in Corning, CA have in common?  Burger condiment bars par excellence!

My then fiance and I used to head over to the regional chain Burger Chef on occasion – you could buy a cheap burger and load it up at their condiment bar, turning an inexpensive lunch into a grand feast, adding a lot of fresh chopped vegies.

One might say the same about the burger at the Olive Pit, in Corning, California, a must stop for me when traveling I-5 from the Bay Area to Portland and back.

Your burger (one or two patties) is delivered nude, and you head to the condiment bar to load it up – several varieties of olives, and all the usual burger fixings.

When they say “olive burger” and I’m the patron, they aren’t kidding!  I piled three kinds of olives on my double.

It gave me just the right amount of energy to do my shopping on their retail side – every kind of olives you can imagine, stuffed with anything you can imagine-  cheeses, nuts, pimentos, packed in different brines, cured in different fashions.

I cure my own olives at home, and I purchase the raw olives from a farm down the road from the Olive Pit.  But I can’t even do enough for my own consumption, and they only las a few months after harvest.

So the Olive Pit is there for me to stock up the rest of the year.   This trip, I bought more than a dozen jars.  I love the stuffed queens, and the sicilians, which are a Lindsay product and come with a spice packet you add before serving.

Olive Pit’s salad style olives can’t be beat.  No machine diced pieces here, but huge chunks of green olives, perfectly seasoned, I use them on salads, sandwiches, and especially pizza.

I love you guys.  Marry me.

At the intersection of Sherman Way and Woodley, Beeps has served the neighborhood and burger fans since 1952. We were across the street at Toys R Us, and I snapped a pick of Beeps and tweeted it, proclaiming “alas, no time this trip.” But when Mrs Burgerdogboy and her pals exited the toy store, and saw me gazingly longingly at the burger legend, they insisted that we have an early lunch, and I was oh so happy.

We ordered (over ordered) at the window and took a seat in the outdoor patio.  Was really happy to be sitting and eating outside in pleasant weather, after 6 months of Portland winter gloom.

For the four of us, one beef dip, one pastrami sub, one hot dog, two curly fries, two orange bangs, one regular burger, and more.

We had ordered in two tranches, and for some reason, half came, the other took some negotiating to get (cajoling?), but in the end, it all worked out.

I loved the beef dip.  I had been determined to get to Coles or Philippes in downtown Los Angeles this week, and didn’t make it, so I had a jones for a dip.  (Both Coles and Philippe’s purport to have invented the French dip).

Beep’s dip was top notch, real beef roast, a nice roll, and an ample serving of au jus to go with.  The curly fries were pronounced winners by all.    The burger, victim of a thumbed bun, and dressed to the nines – was a previously frozen machine formed patty, to my disappointment intitially, but actually tasty in its own right.

I’ll try to hit Beeps more often in my L.A. trips.  My office used to be a couple blocks away, and Beeps was one of my oases. It can be yours as well.

Beep's Chili Cheese Dog

 

Beep's Beef Dip Sandwich