Tuesday, December 27, 2016

The drive north

IMG 3545
Highway 5 North, Oregon, December 27, 2016—
THREE CHILDREN; three Christmases. I've reported on the first two; the third is yet to come — we decided to break the trip. We've been driving too much lately.

But we did make one stop between Eastside Road and Eugene, where we're bivouacked tonight with a bottle of beer and the laptop. The stop was at a place new to us, but run by people we're familiar with: the husband-wife team responsible for Amuse and Mix, the restaurant and café of note in Ashland, where we've spent so many days and weeks.

They've opened a third eatery, a hamburger joint. Truly a burger joint: the menu is restricted to hamburgers (and cheeseburgers), French fries, sodas, and milk shakes. But I can report that the hamburger is just about perfect. The first thing that strikes you is its size and shape: it is a small hamburger, easily held; but the meat patty is not at all flattened; it is almost spherical.

On the drive up my Companion was chuckling at something she read about James Beard: in an attempt to cook a perfect hamburger he put chunks of ice inside the meat patty, to keep it from overcooking and drying out. It wouldn't surprise me if Flip had read the same report. This hamburger is dense but juicy, savory, delicious.

It's also, as Carlo Petrini would say, buono, pulito, giusto — good, clean, and fair: grass-fed naturally raised Oregon beef.

The bun is brioche, made at Mix Bakeshop across the street. Beef and brioche is a brilliant combination. This will be a regular stop for us. Flip, 92 Norh Main Street, Ashland, Oregon; 541-488-3547

RESTAURANTS VISITED, with information and rating: 2016
(2015 restaurants)

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