Le Pigeon- Awesome Burger

So a few weeks ago Sarah and I had our first meal at Le Pigeon- a great Portland based French restaurant. The meal was amazing. Everything was rich in butter- French cooking style. We sat at the chef’s counter observing the masters at work. While there, something caught my eye-- a beautiful burger. Now, I thought I had a decent grasp on the high quality burgers that Portland had to offer (Slow Bar, Sapphire Hotel, etc.). I would in no way consider myself an expert, but for a while these two were battling for best PDX burger that I had exposure to. When I saw this beautiful mountain of cow butt, bread, lettuce, and other greatness it left me in a trance.

Well, last week Sarah was out of town and I had to drown my lonely sorrows in something. You guessed it, the burger at Le Pigeon. I got there early, about 5:45 or 6. Rumor has it they only serve 5 of these a night, so you have to get in early if you want it. The place is small too, so don’t bring the whole crew for the perfect burger. I would suggest going in ninja style, maybe 3 people max. When I went in it was pretty dead being so early. I immediately sat at the chefs counter. I don’t even know why they brought me a menu as I had tunnel vision. So I order it and at $9 for the burger with potatoes and $11 for the burger with mixed greens it is clearly comparable if not cheaper than any other high quality burger in town. I opted for mixed greens as I was already feeling guilty as I have already fallen off the diet wagon, for the most part. I waited around and chatted for a while with my neighbors and the servers….

…Then it arrived in all its glory. Let me describe this thing as best as I know. From what I gathered this thing is about ½ pound, Strawberry Mountain (Local as hell ) beef. Its hand pattied and cooked to order perfectly. This is a top notch PDX restaurant, so you can’t expect less. It comfortably lounges on a nicely fluffy and chewy ciabatta roll. I watched the chef spread some mustard on the bun and I wouldn’t be shocked if it were not made in house. Next, there are some pickled onions placed gingerly on top of the burger, which also has some sort of quality cheese melted on top of it. Now, heres where it gets interesting. They have some juliened lettuce, that’s tossed in a dressing, that the sous chef carefully places on the burger. He then puts the lid on it and sticks a knife down the center, as this thing HAS to be cut in half. There may be more to this I’m missing-- my bad.

Anyways, this thing is a giant mess of awesome. I was sitting in this intimate French restaurant grubbing tough and spilling burger all over my face. It was great… I don’t think they would offer it if they didn’t know that would go down. It may have been the best burger I’ve ever had. I have heard about some other good ones around town and I will have to test them and report back. In the meantime, if any of you guys want to get a burger, hit me up and we will sneak in ninja style. (Maximum of me and you)