Eighteen: Reveille!
We’re not going to wax on about the bizarre choice Fort Worden made to transpose a pseudo-formal dining room onto a State Park coffee shop. Dining upon white linen under the cold soaring ceilings of the Commons building, gazing over the not-so cleverly hidden deli case and gift shop stuffed animals is unnerving to say the least. And “the least” is where we’ll leave it because if we dwell on Reveille’s atmosphere too much we will, in fact, detract from a pretty great burger.
Let’s start from the top. The bun was fantastic. With excellent crunch and integrity it was able to stand up to all manner of juice and manhandling. Bonus: it was tasty!!
The burger sauce (served generously in a side ramekin for self-serve bun-spreading and fry-dipping) had great flavor. The customary pleasing pale pink, it contained just the right amount of fattiness to zest. Huge surprise--the tomatoes were unripe in classic PT fashion. The lettuce was . . . green. It didn’t add or subtract anything. Much as we love lettuce, this was just fine.
The real star of this burger was the blanket of melted cheese, carefully tucking in the half caramelized shallot- type jam. This combo worked incredibly well with the meat.
The patty was commendably juicy, though it was more of a meatloaf than a burger patty—a combination of both pork and beef (and maybe a little worchtershire sauce and parsley?) We dug it.
The fries were thick-cut wedges. Not our style, but tender and a good foil for the burger sauce.
So there you have it. Eat this burger. But do it at lunchtime when the bustle of the Fort is at its peak and the grab-and-go café-ness of the café isn’t hiding under the misplaced white linen of Reveille’s dinner scene.
