The Fried Onion

By Matthew Korfhage

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Southeast 3rd Avenue and Alder Street, 961-2534, thefriedonion.com. Lunch Monday-Friday.

On any of its hot dogs or burgers the Fried Onion will throw bacon, "spicy Russian" sauce that's essentially Thousand Island dressing with heat, or even a generous pile of New York deli pastrami, but fuhgeddaboudit. My favorite dog here is the simplest: a little fried slaw, a bit of fried onion, a Thumann's dog and a spot of mustard on a poppy-seed onion roll. And a grill seasoned to deep familiarity. Owners John and Marcy McGrath are old-school New Yorkers of the Greatest Generation variety, and this is a no-frills production that essentially does one thing and does it right: They grill burgers and dogs.

Check out Willamette Week's 2016 Cheap Eats guide here.

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Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage

Matthew Korfhage has lived in St. Louis, Chicago, Munich and Bordeaux, but comes from Portland, where he makes guides to the city and writes about food, booze and books. He likes the Oxford comma but can't use it in the newspaper.

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