good hipsterburgers. slow bar is the kind of place where you can sit at the counter and overhear portland hipsters comparing high-end burger joints where they've eaten, and discussing the killer-ness of various hot sauces. lots of inked body parts on the staff and customers, some quirky facial hairstyles on the guys, but the portland hipster style seems to be ironic hats like beanies instead of thick-rimmed glasses like other towns' hipsters wear. slow bar is in a neighbourhood where there are help organizations for the street people, and it struck me that many of today's slumming-it hipsters are going to be the homeless people of the future, after too many years of working at dead-end loading dock jobs and drinking too much cheap beer.
the restaurant's signature slowburger is big -- half a pound of coarsely ground but lean beef (no gristle in mine). it was cooked perfectly, a little char on the outside, not too tough on the inside, good soft bun. what was outstanding were the two onion rings that came on top of the burger. they were freshly made, not frozen, about an inch thick, good batter coating, nice sweet onions (walla wallas?) they should make a sandwich out of those onion rings, they're that good. better than the fries that come with the burger, which were skin-on and overcooked for my tastes.
slow bar is a bar, too, with 10 beers on tap, mostly microbrews. you know it's a hipster bar when you see pabst blue ribbon being served on draught. excellent selection of canned beer as well, including hamm's. that's the brand of cheap beer that your thinking hipsterdrinkswhen he wants to say "i'm so cool that i drink crappy old beer that my grandfather drank when he didn't have any other choice, but i'm too hip to drink pbr like all those other trend-following hipsters." dude -- it still shows that you're a hipster. support your local brewer by drinking something from the area, not freaking hamm's from milwaukee.