Is This Portland's Best Burger?
The Daily Meal recently published our 101 Best Burgers in America for 2014, and in order to compile our ranking, we assembled a list of nearly 200 burgers from all across the country, from Spruce Pine, North Carolina to Hillsboro, Oregon. We then divided these burgers by region, and compiled a survey that was taken by a panel of 50 noted food writers, journalists, bloggers, and culinary authorities from across the country, asking them to vote for their favorites; limited, of course, to the ones that they'd tried. We tallied the results, and published the 101 stellar American burgers with the most votes.
When Gabriel Rucker first opened Le Pigeon in 2006, he cruelly only served five of the establishment's namesake burgers each night. Today, thankfully, the burger can be purchased at all times, and what a burger it is: A thick, square patty of beef from a local farm is seasoned with salt and pepper, grilled, topped with sharp Tillamook white Cheddar, an iceberg lettuce slaw, thick slices of grilled pickled onions, mayo, mustard, and housemade ketchup, all piled atop a ciabatta bun. The Le Pigeon snagged the impressively high #15 spot on our list, beating out the only other Portland burger on our list, The Special at Stanich's Tavern, which was #63.
Kate Kolenda is the Restaurant/City Guide Editor at The Daily Meal. Follow her on Twitter @BeefWerky and @theconversant.