Wine Wednesday in McMinnville

Each summer we try to make one or more trips to our former home of McMinnville over in the Willamette Valley, about 3.5 hours from Bend, give or take, depending on weather and traffic. We go on Wednesday, stay the night, and after breakfast, go to the McMinnville Downtown Farmers Market and then drive home via Newberg to shop for seafood at Northwest Fresh Seafood. Good produce and seafood are hard to come by in the high desert.

Cheers from our McMinnville Favorite, Two Dogs Taphouse

Crossing the Cascades is always a crap shoot based on weather and traffic. Our prior crossing in June coming back from Bellingham went without a hitch, so this trip over, we were due for pretty much all the entries on our traffic bingo card: slow-ass hooptie RV about to tip over in the road, idiot's day out, and 10-miles following a baler and two hay rakes out of Amity, the baler tractor wider than a lane of the highway. We were really only lacking a tandem gas tanker with three miles of traffic behind it to score big.

Our Wednesday plan this trip was to leave late morning, grab lunch and a beer at Two Dogs Taphouse, see some of our old neighbors, check-in to our room at Douglas on Third, then have a light dinner and wine downstairs at HiFi Wine Bar.

After the incredibly slow trip over the mountains and the long, slow crawl into McMinnville behind tractors taking up both lanes of 99-W, we finally pulled into the parking lot behind Two Dogs on a mission to use the restroom, then get a beer and a burger. We were able to catch up with our friends on staff there before returning to our former neighborhood to harass Barb (who was out of town) and Pat and Mary Jo.

We were some of the first customers at Two Dogs when it opened when COVID was in full rampage and we were some of the last customers at their former location on 3rd Street before their landlords booted them out. Just days after they closed, we moved to Bend. In the intervening years, they moved into a new building at 4th and Evans across from the Yamhill County offices. We have been visiting the new building regularly as it has undergone a slow build-out. It is finally starting to acquire its own personality now, but we really do miss the old location. It was a fantastic space.

At Two Dogs: Detect a Dog Theme?

Directly Across from the Clerk's Office

Photos of Customers' Dogs

Twin New Yorkers

How Often is Someone Taller than Me?
Brady is Now Coaching Basketball at Mac High

After visiting with Pat and Mary Jo and getting introduced to their new dog, we made our way back downtown to our room at Douglas on Third, on the second floor above our destination for the night, HiFi Wine Bar. We were some of the first customers at HiFi when they opened and we go back regularly where we trust that Ben will find great wines for us to drink from their massive inventory of great wines.

HiFi is where the industry gathers to taste wines that are not local. After days of working with and tasting Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, wine industry folks really appreciate tasting something different. After tasting barrel samples and doing blending trials for days on end, your palate does get worn out. Mine certainly did. We call it cellar palate, a real fatigue than can make you immune to faults in your own wines compared to wines of other regions.

Tasting Chenin Blanc at HiFi

When we walked in (unannounced; we did not tell Ben we were coming), Ben greeted us effusively with a splash of Champagne while we pondered the list. As we were sitting on the couch up front, we noticed our insurance agent and his wife, Michael and Estelle, sitting at the bar. We caught up with them for a few minutes, not having seen them since we moved to Bend 3.5 years ago.

We Love the Grapevine Chandelier and Live-Edge Bar

We tasted some phenomenal wines. I selected the first wine, a beautifully crisp Anjou Blanc (Chenin Blanc) from Thibaut Boudignon, a master of Chenin and maker of killer Savennières. With food, we asked Ben to pick a Nebbiolo with the instructions, less extracted (more like Barbaresco than Barolo) and highly aromatic. He surprised us with a Valtellina. Most Valtellina is second-rate to Barolo and Barbaresco, but the 2017 Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Inferno was dynamite. I could wax poetic about the 2022 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin that tasted 100% like what it should, a stunning wine. Ann's favorite of the night and a revelation to her about how well Sauternes ages was the 1998 Château de Fargues, once the sister property of Yquem which now is in the LVMH portfolio.

2023 Boudignon Anjou Blanc
Beautifully Crisp and Affordable Chenin Blanc

2017 Arpepe Valtellina Superiore Inferno 'Fiamme Antichi'
Absolutely Top-Class Nebbiolo

2022 Domaine Fourrier Gevrey-Chambertin
Mind Blown! Such Classic Bourgogne

1998 Château de Fargues Sauternes Drinking Perfectly Now

After all these brilliant wines, we took leave of HiFi and walked upstairs to our room to call it a night. In the morning, we decided a big, late breakfast was just the thing because we would not be eating lunch. Ann suggested The Diner, a McMinnville favorite, and far enough off the beaten path (at the hospital) to be away from the tourists jamming the downtown restaurants. We always go there to get our tot fix: locals know to order tots there.

Breakfast at The Diner
My Usual: Chicken Fried Steak and Tots

Ann became ill during breakfast, so we scrapped going back into town to the market, instead continuing on to Newberg to get seafood before heading back south to Salem and home. We did not score all those delicious blackberries, marionberries, and blueberries that we hoped to at the market, but we did get some great fish and scallops for a moqueca on Saturday night with Michelle and Andreas.

Bend Smashburger Smash-Off

Update August 2023

Since Ann and I did our initial tasting of Bend smashburgers in January 2023, some things have changed and some have not. Americana is still crushing it at Podski. Willieburger bought a new cart which has taken up quasi-permanence at the Deschutes Brewery; they are no longer at Boss Rambler. 

MidCity left the traffic-poor and landlocked Boneyard location downtown for the richer environs over at Hayden Homes Amphitheater for the summer concert series while searching for a new location elsewhere. They appear to have settled on the parking lot at the Waypoint Hotel (Olney and 3rd) for after the concert season ends.

As for these three, nothing has changed with respect to quality: everything we said before holds, except that we find the burgers at Americana have a better crust than ever, solidifying them firmly as the burger to beat in town. Willieburger is right up there with Americana and it will come down to your personal preference as to which is better than the other. MidCity remains a far distant third.

Also, Blue Eyes has finally got their retail act together and are slinging smashies daily over near Pilot Butte (7th and Greenwood). They also have a cart that is currently at Boss Rambler where Willieburger used to be. Sadly, Blue Eyes burgers, while very large and with a nice crust, have very little flavor. At $11 for a single and $13 for a double, the quality to value ratio isn't there. Also, their fries are strange: I have never had a tough fry until I visited Blue Eyes.

Finally, Bend Brewing launched a smashburger on their new post-renovation menu. It is a good burger, not in Americana and Willie territory, but way above Blue Eyes and MidCity. It's a bit spendy at $15, though that's not a bad price considering what real estate costs right downtown on the river.

TL;DR

After coming to love smashburgers in the last year, Ann and I set about finding the best smashburger in Bend, regardless of price or size. The Americana Truck's OG burger takes the crown, barely edging out the Willieburger double. Despite coming in behind the other two, the MidCity Smashburger Smashy Boi is a great burger if you're in the neighborhood. Details below.

Old Dog Learning New Tricks

As a retired fine dining restaurant chef/owner, my idea of a hamburger has always been an inch thick and medium rare, a not terribly lean juice bomb with a great toasted bun and simple condiments. Now that I've retired and moved to Bend, burgers that fit my profile are few and far between. In the last year, I've come to know the smashburger, albeit reluctantly at first.

Much to my surprise, I have become something of a smashburger fanatic. This non-traditional burger is pressed with great force onto a flattop such that it becomes a wafer-thin patty. This flat, the burger comes off the flattop well done with a gorgeous maximally crunchy and über-meaty surface.

Although smashburgers are 180 degrees from my once-ideal burger, I have come to love them in the same way that I am coming to love Detroit-style pizza (similar to Roman pizza in teglia), the antithesis of my beloved Neapolitan-style pie. This old dog is learning new tricks!

The Players and Their Burgers

We know of four places in Bend that offer smashburgers and there are probably others as well. For our totally non-scientific survey, we got burgers from The Americana Truck, Willieburger, and MidCity Smashburger. Blue Eyes on Greenwood near Pilot Butte offers a smashburger as well, but they managed to remove themselves from the competition by repeatedly being closed without making any announcement to their would-be customers.

Formerly located at Spider City, The Americana Truck has recently moved to Podski near the Box Factory, occupying a new-to-them gold foodtruck passed on from El Sancho. It is unclear if the original Jesus-muraled truck that we came to love at Spider City will be put back into service some time in 2023.

Number One in Our Taste Test: Americana's OG, $8, 10.3 ounces

Willieburger is a pop-up run by brick-and-mortar restaurant vets. While they were regulars at the NWX Farmers Market during the season, they are currently splitting their time on weekends between Boss Rambler and Deschutes Brewery (Colorado Ave, not the pub downtown). Namesake dog Willie is a cute little guy! Check their Insta feed for their schedule and adorable pics of Willie.

A Very Close Number Two: Willieburger's Double, $11, 8.4 ounces

MidCity is situated in a food cart at the Boneyard tap room on Lake Place, hard on the Parkway in Old Bend, not at the main pub on Division. MidCity opened an offshoot of their Portland business with much fanfare in early 2022 and they do a great job of marketing their product on social media.

Third Place: MidCity's Smashy Boi, $6, 5.6 ounces

While we have eaten a lot of each of these three burgers over the last many months and while we have had our opinions about them, we had never sat down to try all three at the same time, head-to-head. Once we came up with this idea (blatantly ripped off from Podski's burger challenge) this winter, we had to wait for Willieburger to get back from vacation to hold the Smash-Off.

We drove to all three places, ordered a burger to go, kept it in its original packaging until we got home. There, we unwrapped all three burgers, weighed them, and put them in a microwave for 30 seconds to make sure they are were all equally warm.

To be fair, we tested as equivalent and as standard burgers as possible, ordering two patties and no add-ons. All came with cheese, a sauce, and onions. Other toppings vary slightly. The Willieburger comes as a single, so we ordered a double. The OG and SmashyBoi are doubles from the get-go.

We couldn't taste the burgers blind: we are too familiar with them and they are individually too distinctive looking and tasting. Also in the spirit of transparency, see the photo below. What's better with burgers than beer? Several of these are hazy ales and that may have "clouded" our judgement. 

What Better with Burgers?

Evaluation Criteria

We ranked the burgers based on four criteria that are meaningful to us: the bun, the crust on the burger, the onions (all come with onions standard), and the sauce. We did not consider the cheese, because they all have deliciously gooey American-style cheese.

Moreover, we did not use size or price in our evaluations. That is, the Americana Burger would have still topped the rankings at a even higher price. Willie would have come second even at half the price and MidCity would have still placed third at twice the size. 

Buns. Ann and I are sticklers for good buns. It matters that they are good quality and carefully toasted. Americana uses split-top brioche buns that are well-toasted. For this test, the Willieburger came on a standard bun, really well grilled, but we have had brioche buns from them in the past. MidCity had a pretty average bun.

Burger Crust. This is what a smashburger is all about. Willie kills it with a fantastic crust. You will wait the longest time for that killer crust but it is so worth it. Just slightly below this is the Americana crust. When the truck is less busy, sometimes the crust can rival Willie. And MidCity has a decent crust, just not quite as good as the other two. From a technical aspect, I believe the Willieburger crust is due to the cast iron flattop, unique among the three.

Onions. Onions are crucial on burgers for their acidity which helps cleanse the requisite fat from the burger and the cheese from your tongue. In other words, onions help keep each bite of the burger fresh. Willie again kills it with thinly sliced raw onion smashed into the burger. The onions keep a bit of their crunch and acid and help elevate the burger. The other two use caramelized (or at least cooked) onions, which while tasty, do not help the burger.

Sauce. I've always been a mustard guy where burgers are concerned, but mustard is just wrong in the context of a smashburger. Even I can see the error of my ways. I have come to admit that a mayo-based burger sauce can really do wonderful things for a burger. And the number one thing that sets Americana apart from its peers is the burger sauce, redolent of black pepper (Joe later told me the pepper is actually in the onions), whose slightly spicy bite does the same thing for the OG that the onions do for the Willie. Willie has a decent burger sauce, but neither of us were huge fans of the thicker and paler sauce at MidCity.

Burger	Bun	Crust	Onions	Sauce	Overall
Americana OG	1	2	tie 2	1	best
Willieburger Double	2	1	1	2	second, by a nose
MidCity Smashy Boi	3	3	tie 2	3	third

You'll note in the summary chart above that Americana and Willie split top honors in the four categories. But a burger is the sum of all its parts and Ann and I are unanimous (What? We're never unamimous!) that the OG from Americana when taken as a whole is the better burger.

What's more is that Ann and I both agree that a perfect smashburger might be the Willie burger on the Americana bun setup.

I was in the in the business for ages and I hope that nobody feels any disrespect. Ann and I know how damn hard you work and we applaud your efforts. We were just having a little fun in sampling the various burger options and we are very thankful to have those options.

Brown Dog Goes to Bend

Ann and I, we promised ourselves to explore our adopted state of Oregon once we were able to. Our old dog Charlie was unable to travel and that limited our excursions to nearby day trips. With his passing about five weeks ago, we vowed to start exploring, even though we didn't much feel like it right after saying goodbye to Charlie. Our other dog, Grace, who goes most often by the moniker Brown Dog, loves to travel though and would love to accompany us. 

Our first destination would be Bend, Oregon, a city across the Cascades that we have been wanting to visit for a long while. We had been thinking of taking an overnight in Bend for a couple of weeks, but the weather hasn't been terribly cooperative. It has rained for about the last ten days here in the Willamette Valley, not terribly unusual for this time of year at the beginning of our rainy season. This is not four-season country; we have four months of drought and eight months of rain.

Though the weather patterns are different here in the valley and there on the far side of the Cascades, this recent storm off the Pacific was vast enough to bring to rain to Bend as well. Finally, despite it raining in McMinnville, we got a break for a day of sunny weather in Bend and we set out. The weather would get better and better as we traveled inland for our first visit to Bend.

Raining in McMinnville

Brown Dog is Ready to Travel

Not Used to the Rear Bucket Seats in Ann's New Used Car

From McMinnville, there is basically one way to get to Bend. We're used to the limited places to cross the Willamette River and thus the limited ways we can travel locally. But crossing the river is child's play compared to crossing the tall Cascade range on the eastern side of our valley. The sole road to Bend is Oregon Route 22 which crosses the mountains (in good weather) at Santiam Pass. Crossing the mountains is not a quick affair: the 160-mile trip takes just shy of three-and-a-half hours. As an aside, imagine the disruption this time last year when the massive wildfires closed a 40-mile or so stretch of Route 22. 

Heading south out of McMinnville, the first leg of our trip had us driving through our local farm and wine country to the nearby state capital of Salem, and then heading east into the hills on 22. Fall in the agricultural Willamette Valley can be spectacular and our drive today would show some peak fall color, despite the showers and gloomy skies. Down on the valley floor, the vast fields of blueberry bushes have changed to showy scarlet color while higher up, the masses of Pinot Noir vines were golden, row upon row of brilliant leaves cladding the hills.

Fall Color in the Eola-Amity Hills

Still higher on the hills below the point where mixed flora gives way to a carpet of conifers, the colors were a patchwork of black-green Douglas firs interspersed with golden-leaved big leaf maples. The odd Oregon white oaks added a russet note here and there. From time to time, a red or sugar maple would add a fiery orange-red note, mainly around dwellings. It truly is a magnificent time of year to travel.

Typically Willamette Valley Fall Color,
Black-Green Douglas Fir and Golden Big Leaf Maples

East of Salem, Oregon 22 climbs slowly, but steadily past Detroit with its hydroelectric dams on the Santiam River, the very low water level in the reservoirs resulting from the multi-year drought that exacerbated last year's fires. Crews are still busy on a long stretch of the road felling burned trees and taking them to the lumber mill. The relentless climb continues to the point where 22 merges with US 20 at Santiam Junction. From here, 20 climbs until it reaches its zenith at Santiam Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail at 4800 feet, then descends with a southerly bend through Sisters and into Bend, the seat of Deschutes County.

Detroit Reservoir, Very Low Water Level

Scenic Santiam River

Traveling this route really showed the contrast between east and west side vegetation in a way that we don't normally notice. We live on the east (dry) side of the Coastal Range and go regularly to the wetter west side. When we do so, we see a perceptible shift in the trees and vegetation, but nothing so dramatic as the contrast in crossing the Cascades.

The higher we climbed on the wet west side, the thicker and darker the forest became with the Douglas firs being joined by hemlocks, true firs, and spruce in a dense forest. Once across the mountains to the dry east side, the scenery was very different. There, the forest thinned out to open stands of Ponderosa pines, their orangey bark and long needles easy to recognize even at highway speed. What little color we saw over the mountains was limited to a few quaking aspens going golden, mostly in lower lying and therefore wetter areas of the arid landscape.

East Side Ponderosa Pines

Quaking Aspen, East Side Color

The further southeast we headed towards Bend, the more the scenery changed. From a long way off, we started to see volcanic formations, including the conical mountain called Black Butte. Volcanoes influenced this part of Oregon heavily and the further into Central Oregon that we drove, the more we saw the results of the very poor soils laden with volcanic rock. Quickly the ponderosa pines gave way to upland steppe covered in western juniper and typical sagebrush scrub, a far departure from the lush Willamette Valley that we call home.

Black Butte Behind Suttle Lake

Just at the town of Tumalo outside of Bend, we got our first view of the gorgeous Deschutes River which bisects Bend, flowing from south to north on the eastern flanks of the Cascades towards its ultimate destination, the Columbia River up on the Washington border. The name of the river and subsequently the county surrounding Bend is the anglicization of the French-speaking fur trappers' name Riviѐre des Chutes, literally River of Falls.

As we arrived in Bend, originally Farewell Bend for a fordable bend in the Deschutes, we noted that our start and our destination could not be farther apart in many respects. McMinnville sits in the lush Willamette Valley at 157 feet of elevation and despite being partially in the rain shadow of the Coastal Range, receives about 43 inches of rain per year. Bend, fully in the rain shadow of the massive Cascade Range, sits over 3600 feet above sea level and receives less than 12 inches of rain in an average year. McMinnville has about 35,000 inhabitants, Bend about 110,000.

McMinnville is very close to the highly-populated Portland metro area; Bend is really in the middle of nowhere in what is called the Oregon high desert. This area comprising primarily southeast Oregon is not truly a desert—it gets slightly too much rain for that, but clearly, the area is extremely arid. I felt if I tossed a match on the ground, the whole area would go up in flames, so desiccated did the vegetation appear.

On arriving in Bend, we hadn't planned on doing a pub crawl, but that's exactly what happened. And what a better place for it? Bend is home to some 30-plus brewery operations, a per capita ratio that may be the highest in the country. We ended up having a beer at five different places over about 6-7 hours. 

First stop was Deschutes Brewery, one of the Bend originals, which we selected because we were starving and they are known to have a decent kitchen. Our burgers, beef for me and elk for Ann, were spot-on rare as we asked for them and came out almost immediately, the kitchen clearly ridiculously bored to death, mid-afternoon, mid-week, and off-season.

Taking in the Street at Deschutes Brewery

From Deschutes, we went to the brewery that I most wanted to visit, Crux, situated directly in the center of Bend at the point where all four quadrants of the city meet. Crux is a beautiful brewery and is sited in a large open area adjacent to Route 97. There is lots of space here for dogs, kids, a fire pit, and a small food truck pod. On a clear day, the view of the mountains to the west would be amazing; we were battling a bit too much cloud cover, but still, we could see snow on the flanks of Mt. Bachelor, home to a renowned ski resort. Of all the breweries we visited, Crux was my favorite.

Creative Taster Trays

Snow on Mount Bachelor Peeking out from Clouds

The Letters are C R U and X

One of the motivating factors for visiting Bend is that we just had friends relocate there from McMinnville. Kayli pours at Boneyard, while Alisha and Alyssa work in the kitchen at Worthy. While at Crux, we made plans to drop by Boneyard next to see Kayli, who was at work tending the bar there.

Weekday business at Bend breweries has really slacked off for the fall: Deschutes was empty, Crux was on cruise control, and Boneyard was slow to the point where Kayli got cut as we were finishing our beer. She suggested that we go to her favorite dog-friendly space across the Deschutes River, Goodlife Brewing. When we arrived, we parked in a courtyard in a fairly industrial space that contained no hints why it might be a favorite destination.

After we went inside and ordered beers, Kayli led us through a door at the end of the bar, past a beautiful copper still, out a side door, and around behind the building which opened onto a large green space with fire pits, a food truck, lots of seating, and dozens of people and other dogs. Brown Dog had a great time visiting with other dogs and most especially with other people who are drawn magnetically to her crazy-looking ears. We had a great time here, meeting all manner of really wonderful people who were extremely welcoming to us visitors.

Co-Located with BackDrop Micro-Distillery

Outside Beers Served in Plastic

After dark, we found out that Alisha and Alyssa were getting off their jobs in the Worthy Brewing kitchen, so we headed back across the river to meet them. We arrived there just as the girls got off their shifts. They joined us for a beer out on the patio, home to a bunch of fire pits, where the Brown Dog got a lot more attention. We had a great evening catching up, but as the night was getting on, we reluctantly said our goodbyes and drove to our hotel to check in for the evening.

Kayli, Brown Dog, Alisha, and Alyssa

The next morning, the first order of business was to get some coffee to clear the cobwebs. While we got a lot of great recommendations from people at GoodLife, Ann had already chosen Thump Coffee in Old Bend as the place where she wanted to go. In our driving around, we saw so many great looking coffee shops. We'll have to give them a shot on future trips. We only have about three coffee shops in McMinnville and only one that does decent coffee.

Late Night: Brown Dog is the Last to Rise

After Beer, Coffee is a Must

Coffee on board, the next thing was a big breakfast. We had eaten only a burger apiece the day before at Deschutes and our stomachs were running on empty. One of the people with whom I was chatting at GoodLife told me about a New Mexican food truck that we'd "be sorry if we missed." After we finished chatting with people at Thump, we walked back to the car to cross the river to River West and find Sol Verde food truck. On the way to the car, we wandered by a neat alley in Old Bend containing the entrance to Spider Brewing, a destination for a future trip.

Neat Alley in Old Bend

I've spent some time in New Mexico and I love the food there. It is its own wonderful thing, neither Mexican nor American. Ann and I got breakfast burritos, mine chile verde with green sauce and hers carne adovada Christmas, meaning some each of red and green sauce. We traded them back and forth; both were delicious and spot-on for what I expected, a great late breakfast that would last us until dinner.

Fall Color Across from Sol Verde

As we were driving through town yesterday from brewery to brewery, we kept seeing a big hill just east of Highway 97, the road that separates east Bend from west Bend. At the hotel, I looked it up on the internet and found that it is called Pilot Butte and that there is a series of easy trails to the summit. The Brown Dog has the canine equivalent of ALS, a degenerative nerve disease, that makes long walks impossible for her. On the other hand, short walks are good for her, helping keep up her muscle tone. We decided during breakfast to take her on a walk there. The photos from our visit are in the next post.

The Last Blockbuster in America

After our walk at Pilot Butte, we got gas and started back through Bend headed for McMinnville in a light rain, the gorgeous weather in Bend lasting for but a day. As we headed for US-20, we passed the last remaining Blockbuster in America. That's quite something: who has a VCR any longer?

The trip back was uneventful and the closer we got to the Willamette Valley, the sunnier it got. We made the final climb into Santiam Pass in almost full sunlight that was causing the larches, a deciduous conifer, to glow spectacularly like lemon-yellow Christmas trees. Back home, we would have two spectacular clear and sunny days. I leave you with a final photo, snapped while driving by just south of home, of Zenith Vineyard, glowing yellow against a spectacular sky.

Golden Pinot Noir Vines and Blue Skies

Although we spent less than 24 hours in Bend, we came away with a terrific impression of the place. It's a small city with far more amenities than we have in McMinnville. Moreover, it is super dog friendly; Grace was offered treats everywhere we went. Bend gets the Brown Dog stamp of approval. It's a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly town too. And it has so many breweries that you could visit one a day for a month and not get to them all. This is coupled with true four seasons, beautiful weather in the high desert, and a population that lives for outdoor recreation. The vibe is just right for us: based on our brief experience, we may have found our tribe.