Review: Belly Timber - Happy Hour

Bathed in the holy light of stained glass, the four of us managed to completely pack Portland's smallest bar as our pontiff Bradley Dawson poured soul quenching tonics and the kitchen of David Siegel issued forth our cheeseburger communion. Belly Timber shows equal devotion to diverse seasonal dishes as well as craft cocktails from it's cloistered Victorian on SE 32nd & Hawthorne. My penance on this outing would be a few cocktails, a burger, and a bit of marrow.

Mr. Dawson quickly proceeded to shake me up a perfectly balanced Corpse Reviver #2, and when I say quickly I mean it. Bradley came out of the speed-bar club scene, and it shows in his efficiently organized bar and confident quickness. The man actually changes his stance as he shakes a cocktail, planting his feet and agitating the shaker with a speed and force I've never seen. The real highlight of his craft however is a passion for crafting his own ingredients. We're not just talking tinctures and bitters, oh no, Dawson makes his own Cynar (and it's great by the way). Who does that? Being that there were two craft bartenders in our party we ended up trying everything of his we could, including bitters, tinctures, and a lemoncello better than anything I enjoyed in Italy.

Oh, and there were cocktails, my favorite of the afternoon being:

BT Collins - Apple wood smoked New Deal Vodka, Preserved Oranges, Lemon Juice, Soda

Oranges preserved at the bar in allspice and equal parts sugar/salt lend a great savory funkiness to the woody, sweet, and dry characteristics of this incredibly refreshing cocktail. It would be all too easy to unexpectedly lose an afternoon thoughtlessly guzzling these down. I'll also add that it's a perfect mate to the much ballyhooed BT Burger.

BT Burger with Pimento Cheese

The BT Burger was the winner in a recent online poll for Portland's best burger, so my expectations were high, and quickly met. A divinely rich patty had a good char, the cheese was perfectly rich, the bun buttery, and with it's cool, shockingly high quality fresh veggies, it achieved that wondrous alchemy of opposing temperatures, textures, and flavors that distinguishes great burgers from the merely good. Best burger in Portland? I'm not comfortable saying that, but damn if it isn't perfectly executed.

But what's a burger without fries?

House Made Fries with Bone Marrow Aioli

Belly Timber's fries are clearly a point of pride, from the elegant presentation, to the indulgent bone marrow aioli. Frighteningly crisp, yet with soft pillowy potato inside these also carry a richness I couldn't quite identify, but that might be due to my slathering them in the inner bone of some poor bovine. The cow's loss is my gain, these are right up there with Portland's best - don't come in without ordering them. If you must for some terrible reason choose to avoid fried starch, the fried chickpeas are equally well executed little gems that I'd freebase if I could keep them lit.

Nobody has to go through the effort of putting marrow in their aioli, striving after almost perfect fries, sourcing produce from micro urban growers, crafting a near perfect burger, or making their own amari - but Belly Timber does. Although sometimes marginalized as a neighborhood joint (because it's in a cutesy house?), there's passion, creativity, and just downright effort here that deserves respect and recognition.

Belly Timber

3257 SE Hawthorne

discussion on pdxplate.com
discussion on portlandfood.org

David Siegel: @BellyTimberPDX
Bradley Dawson: @bradleydawson

Comments

[LadyConcierge]

Yum! I love those fries and aioli.

[amy]

damn you and your food pictures, they always make me hungry! the burger is AMAZING! you didnt write about the fried chick peas though, those deserve mention!

[Jandhi]

Didn't this location used to be home to a French restaurant? Pretty sure I had a tasty quiche there once...

[Erin]

"the fried chickpeas are equally well executed little gems that I'd freebase if I could keep them lit." Best. Line. Ever. :)

[mandy]

Holy cow, Tim; this site is fantastic! Especially given my goal of trying every moderately interesting restaurant in P'town. Having only moved here a year and a half ago, I'm definitely just catching up.

I've been using the Willamette's top 100 guide and Belly Timber is definitely next in the queue -- I'm really glad to know it's worth giving a go. And I know I can put a lot of stock into your reviews; I read the Bunk post!

[Tim Don]

Thanks you for the kind words Mandy!

Belly Timber is indeed delicious and worth a stop, but do it soon as David Siegel is leaving for a year of global traveling at the end of February.

Bradley Dawson left the building some months ago and now holds down the bar at Blue Hour, so I can't speak to what the cocktail program is like these days.

I love the half-order concept, makes it viable to try two entrees instead of one. Let me know how it goes!