My wife stopped eating meat about 8 weeks ago. You can imagine my celebration. Since I am a carnivore, it has led to more interesting dinner choices. We now have to find places that fall into the category of meat friendly or vegetarian options available. In Portland, the land of soy milk and organic honey, it has been pretty easy. That is how we gluten-free roll here in the Pacific North Wet.

Realistically, she doesn’t eat meat because of the movie Food, Inc. She is voting three times a day,as they say. She has made a choice about how she will support the food industry. The way our food is processed and the way our food is made is becoming less about the food and more about the profit. In that scenario, we lose. The balance is lost.

The amount of time and energy needed to get the burger from the field is turning out to be a costly process that may or may not need to happen. This is one of the reasons I could talk her into trying out Foster Burger today. They use local, organic, ingredients.

Our little neck of the woods has been blessed with a burger joint that provides a nice variety, friendly staff, and family atmosphere. I showed up just after 5 and had to wait 15 minutes. It has been said, and it is true, the only line in this town is for good food. There wasn’t so much as a line as there was a warm dry place to watch the lucky eat their food. Foster Burger is a project from Daniel Mondok (Sel Gris) and Andy Ricker (Pok pok, Ping). There are quite a few write ups about the new place all over the internet. I have to admit, I had high hopes.

We were lucky enough to sit at the bar, near the kitchen. We watched the food roll out and second guessed what we ordered each time a new plate of food passed. The options were beef, lamb, mushroom, or fish. Simply put. I have to admit, I thought about the lamb, but went with the house ground beef with bacon, cheddar, egg, and caramelized onions.

While waiting for it, I tried their version of the Moscow Mule, a nice light mixture of Vodka, ginger beer, and lime wedge. The ginger beer offers a sweet touch that makes it almost dangerous. The Montage offers one with fresh grated ginger that is nice a hot summer night, this version at Foster is more of a cocktail that can be had all year round.

Our food was quick and… dirty. Messy actually. Very messy and dirty, the way I like it though. My burger was huge and piled high with probably more than I should have on a burger. The hamburger almost became a sub plot to the bacon, cheddar, and onions. I may have to just do the beef and cheese next time just to compare, as if I need a reason to go back.

Krista had the mushroom burger. It was a portabella stuffed with onions, pepperocini?, & cheese. If I had to give up meat, this would be my starting place. It was really an amazing blend of flavors. If I didn’t have so much to eat myself, I would have eaten more of hers… if she would just look away.

The chef gave us a plate of pickled things… I really can’t find the words to describe medley of flavors on the plate. I do remember this about it. It changes weekly, but ours had saffron, pickles, beets, onions, apples, pears, celery, cauliflower, and egg. The pickles themselves took me by surprise. I was instantly reminded of sitting on the farm in Pauls Valley, Oklahoma. It was one of those flavors I had forgotten. Once I bit into the pickle though, I remembered. It was like summertime, sitting in the root cellar, eating the pickles right out of the pickle jars. Oh they were good. In fact, my mouth is watering as I write this. All their pickling is done in house as well. I think they should have pickling classes during the day since they are not open till 5:00 PM each day.

If you go, watch for the fried avocado? Apparently it is pretty good.

As always, don’t take my word for it, go try it. It may be a bit expensive for the area, but well worth every bite considering the efforts to make the everyday meal into a feast. I am stuffed, yet I crave more things pickled.

Everything seems to have been made from scratch, nothing processed. Although the buns are from the An Xuyen Bakery next door. I had high hopes for this place and I can honestly say I was not let down by any means. I think I got more than I expected and maybe even raised my expectations as to what food should be like.

Foster Burgers is a place you should try. Menu is here.