Burger Project - Roakes

January 26, 2013

Today was a bit bittersweet; it was the last visit to the burger joints listed in the Oregonian's Top Ten Burgers in Portland article in November 2011. I'll follow up with the overall ratings and comments in a week or two. But today we cover our last visit. Jay was up in Tacoma watching his grandson Owen's basketball game; but Norm, John, Ray and I made a quorum.

When we first moved to Aloha in the early 80's we would go to the Roake's on TV Highway between 185th and 198th. It was sold and renamed Annie's at some point. For the years when Jeff and Andrew were in middle school and high school we had a tradition to start our Christmas vacation there (weird tradition, but there it is). Even when the kids were in college we'd try to head there during their visits home. We'd have the same thing, mostly: foot long coneys, fries covered with coney sauce and root beer milkshakes.

Well, today the burger bunch headed to the orignal Roake's in Milwaukie, Oregon. It's about a 40 minute drive from our home in Beaverton. One of the side benefits of this trip is we would be able to drive over the Sellwood Bridge which was recently moved 66 feet north so a new bridge could be built in its place. I didn't want to be the first ones over the bridge but I wanted to try it.

A long drive. The arrow marks the Sellwood Bridge over the Williamette River

Its a tiny, tiny place. I had to pay close attention to make sure I didn't drive past it

Classic burger shack.

The parking lot is much larger than the restaurant; they must have car service sometimes. Look at the sign closely; a few years ago they switched from Coke to Pepsi.

Outside menu; you can see a few years ago they switched from Coke to Pepsi

Inside there is a small counter in the ordering area.  Four cheerful young women were there to take our order and cook our lunch.

A small order, cooking, and prep area. Efficiency is required to not bump elbows

In all my visits to Roake's in Aloha, I've never had a burger; I've always, always gone for the foot long coney dog. But this is a burger project after all, so I bit the bullet and ordered a bacon cheese burger.

Attached to the main trailer is a little addition with one 4-seat table and three 2-seat tables. After we ordered we headed into the small dining area and grabbed the 4-seater as a threesome was packing up.

Norm and Ray grabbing our seats after ordering. You can get an idea of how small it is.

Ray and Howard after ordering. 

Compare the two pictures to see  how close we are to either end of the dining room

John and Norm waiting for lunch

 We ordered one batch of fries to share. Had I been with my boys we would have had them pour coney sauce over the top; but since it may be an acquired taste, we ordered coney sauce on the side. It looked and tasted very much like the sauce at the Roake's/Annie's in Aloha.

Fries with Coney sauce

 The burgers came next. I thought they were excellent; check the ratings and comments to see what the others thought. The buns were perfectly toasted with nice crisp edges - not overdone. The burger sauce was fantastic: creamy with a little spice. The only downsides were too much lettuce and the bacon was just a bit tough. If memory serves, a lot of our hamburgers have been loaded up with lettuce. My suspicion is it is a good way to make a burger look larger than it really is. The toughness of the bacon may have been because the slices were so thick. Who am I too complain about too much bacon?

Bacon cheeseburger. Note the edges of the perfectly toasted bun.

 What to say about the fries. If you like greasy fries, you'll love Roakes. They are thin cut fries, which I like, and the coney sauce is my secret pleasure.

Remains of the day: greasy french fries.

If you want a good hamburger and are in the southeast suburbs, Roake's is a good bet. That is my take, check out the ratings and comments to see what my fellow researchers think.

Ratings

Comments

Burger

Howard

Excellent hamburger. The bun was perfectly toasted, the sauce was nice and creamy with a little zing to it. One of the best "special sauces" I've experienced. The huge mound of lettuce keeps it from being epic.

Norm

Great Burger. Large fresh, and most important for a burger this size, a STRONG bun. A very large tasty piece of meat, with flavorful bacon, cheese, and special sauce. It was wrapped old school style in a piece of paper.. so you could get a good grip without losing the goodies out the bottom. Pretty close to EPIC..

John

Very good burger. Toasted moist bun, tasty 'special sauce', patty was ample and juicy.A little mayo to keep it legal. Fresh veggie condiments. Bacon was good - could have been a bit crispier.

Ray

 Meat was good, but pretty thin. Bacon was a bit tough. A little too much lettuce. Good toasted bun and very tasty sauce. Juicy but not dripping. A nice fat slice of tomato. Altogether, a very good burger.

Fries

We all shared an order of fries with some coney sauce on the side

Howard

What can I say? I'm powerless in the face of greasy fries with coney sauce. They may be greasy for most peoples' taste and the coney sauce may not be for everyone, but oh, how I like them

Norm

The burger was great, but the fries...... Oh My. They were the "shoestring" style...with plenty of Oil!. You might even call them greasy. I don't mind shoestring fries if they are substantial...but these were not that long...and down about the middle of the basket they started getting smaller and smaller. The final pieces weren't even big enough to dip in the sauce. The vaunted coney sauce in my opinion was not that great.

John

Tried one or two. These fries were pretty soggy (greasy) and limp. Not my favorite.

Ray

I liked the fries. They were small and pretty greasy, but I really liked them.

Shakes

Howard (Root beer shake)

Pretty standard soft serve milk shake. This was made with a shot of root beer from the fountain, not root beer extract.

Norm (Chocolate shake)

Shake was average... If you are going to serve a shake that is somewhat thick make sure you give the customer a large diameter straw. Had to take the cap off and drink the shake because it was too thick for the small straw. It was chocolate. it was ok.. but nothing special

John (Malted chocolate shake)

Good shake. plenty of flavor, thick, with some malt added.

Ray (Chocolate shake)

It was a pretty average shake. Very thick, which I like.

Service

Howard

Quick and friendly. Just right

Norm

The Service at Roakes Milwaukie was very good. An energetic group of young woman in the very small kitchen have figured out how to give quick service, handle a large number of orders and keep everyone happy. Hats off the servers and cooks!

John

Friendly, efficient and prompt.

Ray

The service was very fast, accurate, and friendly. They were pretty busy and didn't have time to chat, but it was very good service.

Ambience and Atmosphere

Howard

A classic roadside burger joint. Small, cozy, but clean.

Norm

The ambience was very historic. Apparently this location has been in business for decades...and started in a small trailer which has been added on to. Inside it's very stainless steel, like the kind of diner you might find in New Jersey. But it's very clean and well organized with a lot of happy customers. In spite of the tiny area inside, there is a large amount of parking outside and a couple of tables under cover outside that could be used in good weather.

John

I like this place. It's been around since 1937 or so. Not sure of the structure but it looks and feels like parts of a grounded stainless steel trailer or something along those lines. Very compact, but there seemed to be enough room for all who showed up. Funky, old-school burger joint vibe.

Ray

Old and funky. Clean but very well used environment. Tables were squeezed in with little room to maneuver. Chairs were standard folding chairs.

Overall

Howard

Certainly a place to return to.

Norm

In spite of the disappointing fries and the so so milkshake, over all experience was pretty good. If you've never been to Roakes you must check it out.

John

Good, reasonably priced burger and shake, cool old 'building'. Nice folks working there. I'd go there again.

Ray

I would definitely recommend this place. It is very unimpressive from the outside, but very good food and service.

Chili Colorado

December 2, 2012

Getting caught up.

Another iteration of my ongoing quest to make chili colorado that approaches the quality of those Bob Newlon's mom made when I was a kid. His mom was an amazing cook.

For this try I made my own enchilada sauce. Split and deseed some dried New Mexico red chili peppers. Then roast for a about 30 seconds.

Roast some dried chilis

Then steep them like tea for 30 minutes in hot water.

Steeping the peppers

 Blend it all up

Out comes a nice enchilada sauce

I cubed some pork and dredged it in flour before browning in bacon fat. This might have been a mistake, the flour burned on the bottom of the pan.

Stew the pork in the enchilada sauce and chicken broth. 

Simmering the pork. Beans cooking on the back burner.

Beans and pork on a flour tortilla

Make a burrito.

 Dinner is served. I sure didn't have beer with it when I was a kid ;)

Eat it up.

This was the closest I've come to achieving my goal. I think the enchilada sauce needs some garlic and spices. You can find my recipe here.

White Bean Soup with Kale

We started our new season of Healthy Team Healthy U this week. It is a 12 week course where you form a group and make your way through a workbook giving you tools to become healthier. When you've successfully completed the course you get a 5% discount on your health insurance premium and a $100 cash bonus ($200 last year). There are many resources including lots of recipes. One of the recipes that caught my eye was white bean and kale soup. Their recipe was made with canned beans and vegetable broth. I thought I might be able to get a lot of birds with one stone:

• Use my liquid gold home made chicken broth.
• Make progress on my goal to eat all the different colored beans this year (I got red beans last week).
• Get practice with my pressure cooker.
• Eat something healthy

You can find my recipe here.

I started out on Saturday by whipping out some pressure cooker chicken stock and brining some beans. Sunday morning we went to church then I went swimming, came home and watched some football. One of the great thing about the pressure cooker is you don't have to spend all day cooking your beans - it only takes 30 minutes.

A small ingredient set; I'm used to Cook's Illustrated recipe with a bajillion steps and ingredients. This marked my first time cooking kale - a tough leafy vegetable. 

Beans, kale, vegetables, spices, and chicken stock

 As I said the kale is tough. I pulled the leaves off the stems, then chopped the stems and tore the leaves into bite size pieces.

Mis en place.  Chopped kale stems were added to the mirepoix 

Sauté the mirepoix

After the sautéing the vegetables and herbs for a few minutes, I added the beans and 2 quarts of chicken stock, then cooked on high pressure for 25 minutes (actually 20 minutes + 5 minutes).

Cook the beans under high pressure for 25 minutes

Then after doing a quick release of pressure I added the tomatoes and kale leaves and cooked for another 5 minutes under high pressure before once again quickly releasing the pressure.

Beans are cooking. Kale and tomatoes are waiting their turn

Served with a glass of wine and corn bread.

Dinner is served

The verdict: good enough for company. If you don't want to go to the trouble of making your own chicken broth (it really isn't difficult), it would be fine with a nice brand of canned broth.

Hey look at that; I cooked something without bacon!

2012 Book List

I read like a mad man preparing for and during our trip to South Africa this past summer. But at the end of the year I definitely faded out. I was even less diligent blogging as I read. Nevertheless I did meet my goal of 12 books last year.

Page descriptions and links are to Amazon and may reflect the hardcopy version when I read the Kindle version or vice versa,

Photographer's Guide to the Canon PowerShot S100

• Author: Alexander White
• Publisher: White Knight Press
• Copyright: 2011
• Pages: 283
• Date Finished: January 2012
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

A great book covering the intriacies of the Canon S100. I think it will really help me get more out of my "walk around" camera

Wide as the Waters: The Story of the English Bible and the Revolution It Inspired

• Author: Benson Bobrick
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics)
• Pages: 392
• Copyright: 2002
• Date Finished: January/February 2012
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

A great history of the translation of the bible into English, long before the King James version. Two people were especially important in the translation. John Wyclif in the 15th century and William Tyndale in the 16th.
I appreciated how this book showed the impact of the bible translation into local languages influenced, even drove, the Reformation.

30 Days with Google Docs

• Author: Tony Bradley
• Publisher: PC World
• Pages: 146 (I read the e-book with no pages; pages taken from Amazon description)
• Copyright: 2011
• Date Finished: February 29, 2012
• Rating: **
• Quick thoughts

Tony Bradley summarizes his 30 day experiment to go cold turkey from Microsoft Office products and use Google Docs. I didn't learn much from this. I got more help from talking with Andrew (my youngest son) about how he uses it at school. 

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

• Author: Steig Larsson
• Publisher: Vintage
• Pages: 672
• Copyright: 2008 (Translation copyright)
• Date Finished: March 30, 2012
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

First 100 pages: boring. That much detail about financial transactions are just not needed to move the plot along. The story gets much more interesting when it focuses on the heroine. Nice thrilling finish. I liked it enough to download the next book in the series: The Girl Who Played with Fire

Nicholas and Alexandra

• Author: Robert K. Massie
• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Pages: 608
• Copyright: 1972
• Date Finished: April 13, 2012
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

A good biography of Nicholas and Alexandra; the last Tsars of Russia. Also a good layout of the problems of their son sufferng from hemophilia and an excellent description of Rasputin, and the part he played. The biggest weakness is that there isn't much description about what was going on in Russia to foment the revolution. There was a big disconnect between the events of the day and the royal family. We see a great portrait of the royal family but not connections. I was hoping for something along the lines of a David Halberstam or David Kennedy linking together history and biography. but then again, this is primarily a biography. 

Quite Enough of Calvin Trillin: Forty Years of Funny Stuff

• Author: Calvin Trillin
• Publisher: Random House
• Pages: 340
• Copyright: 2011
• Date Finished: May 5, 2012
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

I really enjoy reading Calvin Trillin; a bit at a time it turns out. Reading piece after piece gets to be repetitious. I have another compendium of his 3 books on food and eating which I'm reading much more slowly.

I really like Alice's Law of Compensatory Cashflow "that holds that not buying some luxury item you can't afford is the equivalent of windfall income. So that she might say, 'Well, of course we can to to the Caribbean, now that we have the money we saved by not buying that expensive sound system'"(page 109)

It's Even Worse Than It Looks. How the American Constitutionals System Collided wit the New Politics of Extremism

• Authors: Thomas E. Mann & Norman J Ornstien
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Pages: 201
• Date Finished: May 20, 2012
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Our political system is broken. Mann and Normstein show how the Republican party has becomd an extreme outlier using parlimentary methods to stop all progress. They have put party politics above problem solving

"The Republican Party has become an inusurgetn oulier-ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of copromise; unpresuaded by conventional undersanding of facts, evidence, and science" [Kindle location 129]"

"The real cost of Republican's fixation on ideology purity is that it distracts them from their real problems, and the nation's". [Page 188; Kindle location 2838]

They have a few ideas for fixing things. I like the idea of re-working the rules of the Senate to put the pressure back on the minority party when filibustering. Adjusting rules of cloture would meant that the filibustering group would have to keep their members in the house to maintain the filibuster rather than just having one, requiring the majority group to be present and maintain a quroum.

The other suggestion is to not let the press get away with pretending their are equal sides. When the Republicans are crazy, point it out with fact checking. "Stoop lending legitimacy to Sentate filibusters…Do not say or write that Congress or the Senate killed a bill or stopped a nomination if a majority in both houses voted for the bill or the individual - say or write the truth, that the bill or person was blocked desoite majority support, by the use of a filibuster." [Page 195 Kindle location 2939].  "A balanced treatment of an unbalanced phenomenon is a distorition of reality and a disservice to your consumers" [Page 194. Kindle Location 2925].

The Best and the Brightest

• Author: David Halberstam
• Publisher: Modern Library
• Pages: 831
• Copyright: 1969
• Date Finished: Juy 28, 2012
• Rating: ***
• Quick thoughts

Excellent book on the personalities behind the build up in Vietnam from the Eisenhower years through Kennedy and Johnson, with just a little of the Nixon years at the end.
Fascinating analysis of the failed leadership style of the people in power. They (especially McNamara) were more intent on proving they're assumptions were right than in being right. They'd dismiss anyone who tried to tell the truth. Army officers who told the truth about the corruption of the South Vietnamese government and popularity of the Viet Cong were removed. The result of ignoring reality and using available facts to bolster a big lie is an urgent warning to power.

Contrast this method of war leadership with George Marshall who always wanted to know what the truth was, not just selected facts. It's no small wonder that Marshall is a hero and a patriot while McNamara is dismissed as a failure.

General of the Army: George C. Marshal, Soldier and Statesman

• Author: Ed Cray
• Publisher: Cooper Square Press
• Pages: 735
• Date Finished: September 1, 2012
• Rating: *****
• Quick thoughts

Excellent book of a true American hero. George Catlett Marshall was the organizer of victory of World War II. As the chief of the army he saw the coming war and worked to reorganize the army through changing from 4 division army groups to 3 division groups making them more mobile. He also forced the teaching of new mobile tactics based on his experience serving under Black Jack Pershing in WWI. Marshall saw what was happening in Europe in the 30's and built up the Army to meet the threat in spite of the isolationist feelings in the US.

Once the war broke out he master-minded the winning strategy of Europe first. He had many epic arguments with Churchill and the British army staff who had no stomach for an invasion of Europe through France (based on their experience in WWI). He constantly had to fend off alternate strategies; Churchill never let the issue lie. Churchill wanted to attack in Italy and the Balkans; areas that are not good for armored divisions.

By all rights he was the one to lead SHAEF (Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force) but FDR told him he could not sleep at night without Marshall in the country. Marshall was simply too important for the entire world war effort to be confined to 1 theater. That is why Eisenhower go the job (and the bulk of the glory).

Following WWII Marshall tried to broker a peace in China, then became Secretary of State where he formulated the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe, and was the instigator of NATO.

The book is excellently written giving a good balance between Marshall the man and the history of the times. It is on a par with David Kennedy's "Freedom From Fear".

Contrast Marshall's approach to leadership where he welcomed the hard truth rather than surrounding himself with "yes" men, with Robert McNamara's leadership in the Vietnam War where he ignored the big truth of the problem and punished those who disagreed with him.

An outstanding, outstanding book.

Joy in the Morning

• Author: P.G. Wodehouse
• Publisher: W.W Norton & Co.
• Pages: 263
• Copyright: 1946
• Date Finished: September 6, 2012
• Rating: ****
• Quick thoughts

Awesome as usual. Right in the wheelhouse of Jeeves and Wooster novels. This one is interesting because it has Bertie talking normally with Uncle Percy (Aunt Agatha's husband).

If you've never read a P.G. Wodehouse novel, do yourself a favor and read this or Right Ho, Jeeves 

Crossing to Safety

• Author: Wallace Stegner
• Publisher: Modern Library Classics
• Pages: 326
• Copyright: 2969
• Date Finished: September 22, 2012
• Rating: *****
• Quick thoughts

I've found another favorite author, ranking up with Larry McMurtry (who studied under Wallace Stegner) and Richard Russo.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock

December 29-30, 2012

I didn't know I needed a pressure cooker until Cook's Illustrated told me so. The recipes they included looked tasty so  I did a little on-line research on the topic. One of the selling points is the opportunity to make home made chicken broth. I have a number of recipes that include chicken broth and I've always gone with canned or used "Better Than Bullion" chicken base. Seems like every site I read talked about how much better home made stock is and how easy it is to do in the pressure cooker. After making my 5-star Red Beans and Rice with home made stock I'm convinced. I'm a convert to home made chicken stock and the pressure cooker. Homemade broth is silky, velvety, and smooth.

Being a Cook's Illustrated recipe this has more steps than some others. For example, Mike Vrobele, author of the Dad Cooks Dinner site has a much simpler recipe which I plan to try. You can find my detailed recipe here.

One of the nice things about chicken stock is you don't need expensive parts of the chicken. I went to New Season's Market in search of chicken backs. I figured with as many chickens they cut up in a day they must have backs left over. Apparently they do, but the guy helping me couldn't find them in the freezer. It was a busy Saturday afternoon so I settled on 2 pounds of chicken wings.

2 pounds of chicken cut at the joint; an onion, some garlic, bay leaves, salt and vegetable oil

Fry the chicken pieces until they get a bit of color

Simple ingredients; terrific results 

Sauté the onions after taking out the chicken parts

3 quarts water

Add the garlic, bay leaves, and a hint of salt. Cook under high pressure for 1 hour.

When the hour is up, quick release the pressure cooker and remove the lid.

Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheese-cloth. I've found the easiest way to remove the fat is the container in the refrigerator overnight. It rises to the top and congeals to make it very easy to remove.

Strain the liquid through a fine mesh strainer lined with cheese cloth.

Parcel out into individual containers . 2 1/2 quarts of stock.

Pressure Cooker Red Beans and Rice

Sunday January 6, 2013

Take away: Make your own stock. It is far and away better than canned.

Today I made red beans and rice which is one of our favorite meals. It's traditionally prepared on New Year's day but we were out of town so I did it a week late. This would be a twist on my tried and true recipe. I'd be using home made chicken stock and cooking in the pressure cooker rather than simmering in an open pot for 3 hours. The promise was I could cut cooking time down to 1 hour; 30 minutes at high pressure for the beans and 30 minutes simmering with the andouille.

I got a Fissler 8.5 quart pressure cooker for Christmas. (The 8.5 quart is out of stock everywhere today; the link is to the 6.5 quart version). Well, okay; it was close to Christmas and I went out and bought it after reading about why I need a pressure cooker in Cook's Illustrated. My first job was to make some chicken stock from chicken wings and vegetables. Everywhere I've read about how much better home cooking can be if you use home-made broth. The first use of the broth would be this dish.

The prep takes a while for this dish; there is a lot of chopping. It has the Creole holy trinity of onion, celery and bell pepper. Other prep includes chopping bacon and parsley, crushing garlic; measuring out tons of spices. But worth it.

Mis en place

When I made the stock last week, I froze it in various size containers; I used 3 cups for this recipe

Home made chicken stock

I brined the beans overnight; 3 Tablespoons salt with 4 quarts water. First we sauté the bacon; reserve the bacon and sauté the holy trinity until the onion is translucent. Add the spices for about 30 seconds to bloom the flavors, then everybody in the pool

Almost ready for cooking. Next step is to cover the beans with water

Lock the lid in place, heat until the second white ring appears, turn heat way down and cook for 35 minutes.

Everything is cooking. We know it's at high pressure when the second white ring appears on the gauge to the left

 I was a bit trepidatious about cooking beans in a pressure cooker for a couple of reasons. First, I can't monitor them as I'm used to doing. Second; it's hard to judge how much liquid to use; probably not as much because it won't boil off; okay, but how much less? Well, I added liquid until everything was covered. That was too much; they came out a bit more soupy than I like. Finally, this dish that usually cooks for 2 1/2 to 3 hours can be done in 30 minutes? No freaking way. So, I cooked under pressure for 35 minutes. Um, they didn't need it; the ham shanks were fine and the beans were a bit too mushy. Next time, I'm going just 20 minutes.

While the beans cook, cut up the andouille.

Dicing andouille into 1/4"chunks

 After releasing the pressure from the cooker, I added the andouille and simmered in an open cooker another 30 minutes. While that was cooking, I prepared some long grain rice.

Long grain rice

Simmering with the lid open evaporated some of the liquid. Usually, it's too dry, so this was a nice change.

Dinner is served

The verdict? Oh My Goodness; cooking with home made stock really makes an improvement. The stock is so silky and rich (I took off all the fat when making it). I'm hooked; I'll be making my own stock now. Maybe I'll give it away for birthday and Christmas presents next year.

Adjustments to the recipe link above if using a pressure cooker. Just cover the beans with liquid and cook the beans under pressure for 20 minutes

Pre Christmas Visit to Tacoma

On the weekend of December 22/23 Carla and I along with her sisters Linda and Starr drove up to Tacoma to spend the weekend with their brother Glenn and his wife, Carolyn. They moved up to Tacoma from Portland late last summer for a great job opportunity. They have a wonderful house in the University of Puget Sound area just south of Commencement Bay

Map of the greater Seattle area. 

It was a cool overcast day on the 2 1/2 hour drive up; but we didn't have too much rain.

Glenn and Carolyn in front of their house.

The family: Linda, Carla, Starr, Glenn

Linda and Starr spent the night at Glenn and Carolyn's place. We stayed at a local hotel on the bay. When I woke up in the morning the sun was just starting to come up and I got this picture of Commencement Bay outside our hotel window

View of Commencement Bay from our hotel room.

A few minutes later, daylight had taken over

About 20 minutes after the earlier picture was taken.

 We had a wonderful visit and we were all so happy to be together before Christmas.