Foster on Foster St

Last Sunday, my Fry Guy and I were feeling weak and in desperate need of sustenance, particularly of the burger variety. It was a Lazy Sunday, the kind where you wake up in the late afternoon, call Parnell just to see what he's doin' and so on. We settled on a joint that was unanimously liked by the many "Best Burger in PDX" articles, Foster Burger. Admittedly, this is a lazy way to do it, but as I've made clear, it was that kind of Sunday

As you can see for yourselves, this place gets pretty hoppin' on a Sunday afternoon, but luckily we were able to find our own little red bench in the dense crowd. The waitress was very friendly and had the decency to switch the music when Radiohead's "Creep" got a little too whiny. I could have hugged her. It looked like there was a place to art on the wall outside, but sadly no chalk could be found, so it is not clear whether or not the wall was supposed to be drawn on. You be the judge- next time I'm bringing chalk.

The menu is your basic hamburger and fries, so don't go there planning to eat a turkey sandwich... that is, unless, it's a ground turkey and bacon patty. We wanted to see what they were made of, so we chose one of their specialty burgers- The Burner ($7.50). The Burner is generously topped with roasted jalapenos, crunchy onion strings, sriracha, cheddar and American cheese. It was big, messy and just what the doctor ordered. For those of you who LOVE spice like yours truly, be forewarned that this is not actually a very spicy burger. However if you're a sissy, then this may rate just right for you on the Scoville scale. The flavor was bold and satisfying, the patty cooked medium. Be aware that they cook all their patties medium unless you say otherwise. About 20 napkins later, we were ready to lounge and digest.

Along with the burger, we ordered a "small" side of poutine ($6)- don't get the bigger size unless you have 3 or more people. For those of you unfortunate souls who have never had poutine (terrible name, delicious dish), it's essentially a basket of fries and cheese curds smothered in warm gravy. I was shocked to learn that my French Fry Guy had never had poutine! (He's going to have to earn his title) Once he tried it, he was shocked he had never had it either. I told him of other magical places with more palitable poutine he needed to try. This was the birth of the PNW Poutine Play-offs. And now you know the rest of the story.

Foster's poutine was decent, though we would not have minded a couple more curds with our fries. There were more extravagant versions of poutine on the menu that piqued my interest, but we stuck to the basic for his first time as it could have been overwhelming. We must have looked like starving Ethiopians because the waitress brought it out first to keep our hunger at bay.

Burger brethren, I am happy to report that this is NOT a cash only eatery unlike the many PDX taverns who like to surprise you with this information, as they point you to their ATM in the corner, at the end of your meal. Overall, a happy experience and I would go back, but it may be awhile because there are plenty of other burgers in the sea to try first. I give it 7.75/10 sesame seeds, the lack of cheese curds took it down .25. Don't skimp on my cheese. Ever