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The Fried Onion

By Matthew Korfhage

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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