PATTY DOWN: Burgerville

Name: Burgerville
Location: 3432 SE 25th Ave., Portland, OR 97202 (map)
Website: www.burgerville.com
Twitter: @BurgervilleUSA

A fast-food chain -- with compost bins?

It sounds strange, yes, but these Pacific Northwest hot spots serve their meals with a side of sustainability and an extra helping of everything else you probably wouldn't expect at a drive-through diner.

The food is fresh. The meat is hormone-free. Many of the ingredients are locally grown. The chain's slogan -- "Fresh, Local, Sustainable" -- is emblazoned on in-store merchandise. It almost feels uncomfortable at first, as if these two worlds were meant to be mutually exclusive. Sit down with a Colossal hamburger, fries and vanilla shake at Burgerville, though, and ... hey, no wonder this place has been around for 50 years.
 

Colossal Burger, fries and vanilla shake at Burgerville

The burger is served with lettuce, tomatoes and pickles as well as ketchup on one side of the sesame seed bun and the restaurant's special sauce -- likely some combination of mayonnaise, mustard and diced pickles -- on the other. It was a nice touch on an otherwise straightforward sandwich (one that loosely resembled an onion-less and gastronomically lighter version of the Whopper at Burger King).

Burgerville is often compared to In-N-Out, the California-based chain known for its cleanliness, tastiness and simplicity. I would probably choose Burgerville's fries over In-N-Out's; they're plumper, firmer and not quite as salty. The shakes are similar in that upgrading your soda to a rich, cold treat is a wise move at both establishments. (For what it's worth, there's something about In-N-Out's burger that, at least for me, would give it the nod in a comprehensive showdown.)

One thing that might give Burgerville a few bonus points, however, is its rotating cycle of seasonal specialty items: fried asparagus spears, fresh strawberry shortcake and Oreo mint sundaes, to name a few. And to think -- "asparagus at a fast-food restaurant" was once used as a synonym for "flying pig." Perhaps pigs fly now?

Nutritional information on the Burgerville receipt

Speaking of pigs ... The discourse on obesity in the United States, it seems, always centers around the evils of fast food. Burgerville's solution: including your meal's nutritional information on your receipt, presumably to force you to evaluate your diet as your wait hungrily for your food. The lesson, apparently, is that "fresh" and "sustainable" should not be blindly associated with "healthy." Indeed, the receipt is an unintentionally quizzical marketing strategy because it ironically suggests, "You probably shouldn't be eating here."

Don't let the receipt spoil your meal, though. Just put it face-down on the table and throw it into the recycling bin on your way out. And remember: Almost all of the other remnants of your meal belong in the compost receptacle.