PORTLAND – Remember the bistro burger? Those towering restaurant creations with a half pound of beef and a small salad’s worth of toppings? The ones stacked high with fried onion rings or crispy pork belly that dominated best burger lists throughout the aughts?
Yeah, me neither.
About five years ago, a simpler sandwich began to dominate Portland’s burger landscape, one defined by thin patties, melted American cheese and minimal toppings. At the time, it seemed like a new fleet of food carts was rejecting the over-the-top, $15 restaurant burgers, swinging the pendulum back towards cheaper ingredients with a side of “summertime nostalgia.”
In hindsight, the change had less to do with vibes, and more to do with technique. Back in 2012, a Serious Eats blog post had upended burger orthodoxy, arguing that pressing down on your burger meat wasn’t just allowed, but actually helped coax maximum flavor from your meat (via the Maillard reaction ). “Smash burgers,” as they became known, made with meat smashed into a rough-edged patty shape directly on a stainless steel grill, became the most important burger development of the decade.
Not that they were completely new. Line cooks at drive-thrus and burger bars have long used grease-slicked spatulas to lean on their burgers. But the modern smash fanatic goes further, using cast-iron weights to obliterate their beef and sharpened paint scrapers to transfer every last browned bit from the grill to your griddled bun.
