Portland Walks – Nob Hill Bar & Grill

Last week we took another one of the walks in the Portland City Walks book by Laura Foster.  This time we asked some friends to join us as we walked the Nob Hill Loop (walk number 13).  It was a cool cloudy day and there was some rain showers as we strolled along the 2.7-mile route.

This walk focuses on an older section of Portland originally developed in the mid to late 1800’s when there were many mansions built on full city blocks and then torn down to be replaced by higher density housing during the last 100 years.

About half way through the walk, our friends saw a local restaurant where in the past they enjoyed a great hamburger, so we decided to have lunch at the Nob Hill Bar & Grill located at NW 23rd Ave and Lovejoy St.  NW 23rd is the trendy street of Portland and there is quite a contrast to enter the Nob Hill Bar & Grill, which has retained its 1950’s corner bar atmosphere (several internet reviews refer to it as a dive – in a nice way).  Our friends had originally sought out Nob Hill Bar & Grill bar because they read that in 2006 the bar earned an award for best cheeseburger in Portland.

We all ordered the mushroom burger that contained the hamburger patty, mushrooms, Swiss cheese, onion, lettuce, mayonnaise on a sesame seed bun.  My wife and I decided to split an order of their sweet potato fries, and our friends had the sweet potato fries and tatter tots with their burgers.

Our burgers arrived about five minutes after we ordered them and we all received a good-sized burger that was juicy and had excellent flavor.  I was surprised that the sweet potato fries were a crinkle cut and not slabs like those that we would get from a local restaurant chain.  The fries were cooked to perfection, just the right amount of crispness and not soggy or limp.

We enjoyed relaxing while we ate our burgers.  Once we finished, we ventured back into the rain and enjoyed our time while we finished our walk with full stomachs and a smile on our faces.

Adventures In Food: Author: Kerry Howell