The beef patty itself is thick, and that's a double layer of cheese. With lettuce and tomato added, the toothpick plunged into the top of the bun is a necessity to prevent complete collapse

A good-size Bob's breakfast requires two plates. The bacon is extra-thick, cooked flat on the grill under a heavy press.

The regular and footlong charred dogs that make Ted's famous in upstate New York.

Hot beef is a big favorite in the northern heartland. Here it is the basis of a "Dakota burger." At the left rear of the photo is a serving of excellent potato salad.

One place that has become a must for me on every visit to Portland is Pal's Shanty Tavern. The place has been around since the 1920s and owned by the Hanson family since 1965. The drinks are generous and creative. The waitresses match the image of the place as gutsy, a little bit sexy, but with a heart of gold. It's even more interesting when one of them lets on that in her off time she's studying philosophy at Portland State. The food, however, puts Pal's way above most places of this type. It is a true Pacific Northwest restaurant with some of the best seafood around.

Drinks at Pal's are not to be missed. This is not as much a wine and champagne place as a destination for those who appreciate a good cocktail. The pours are generous. Those in the know, however, usually make sure they get an “Everything In the Kitchen” Bloody Mary. Celery is just the tip of the iceberg on this drink. Depending on the day, it also has olives, artichoke hearts, a peperoncino, and a pickle spear wrapped in bacon. The somewhat spicy drink goes down easy and makes a perfect start to a meal. Sometimes, depending what is on it, the drink can be thought of as the whole meal.

To end with the drinks would be a big mistake. Oyster shooters are as fresh as they come, sourced locally and served with a good sauce in the shooter glass. Fresh steamer clams come in small or large buckets. They are good-tasting, served with their broth as well as some bread to sop up the delicious liquid. The classic white clam chowder is good but not memorable. Their Primo chowder IS memorable, adding Dungeness crab, shrimp, smoked salmon, and smoked trout for a chowder that's just different enough to have your taste buds stand up and take notice.

Seafood salads and seafood Louie are available for the person looking for a cold, refreshing meal. The seafood Caesar adds smoked salmon and smoked trout to the mixed greens and then tops it off with some bay shrimp. The gems on the menu are the sandwiches and platters. The razor clams are a Pacific Northwest specialty, lightly breaded in panko and then grilled. One razor clam easily runs off an inch or two from the large bun. The razor clams are sweet, a little chewy, and come with a nice tartar sauce and local potato chips. The razor clams also star in a razor clam platter, in which another clam is added, as well as a small shrimp salad, and hash browns or twice-baked potatoes. Depending on the season, the razor clams are locally sourced or brought in from Alaska.

Other seafood available as either platter or sandwich include breaded and grilled oysters, Eastern clam cutlets, and a calamari steak. Ahi tuna, grilled wild salmon, and halibut make appearances on the fish side of the menu. One notable sandwich is a creation called the Oyster Clubhouse. Grilled oysters are paired with pepper bacon, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a garlic aioli on grilled sourdough. Fresh Dungeness crab cakes with a roasted red pepper sauce are one of the better crab cakes around.

With delicious items like the razor clams, Pal's is a must-stop for lovers of good, fresh seafood in a place that is still not a tourist trap, where the charm and the atmosphere are real.

The meat on these smoked fish fairly falls away when you poke it with a fork. Gently smoky but devastatingly rich, these fish are a true delicatessen delicacy.

Founder Nick Tahou died in 1997 after more than fifty years running Rochester’s premier hot dog joint. His culinary legacy remains the amazing dish known as a garbage plate. It is up to each customer to choose the foundation of his or her garbage plate. It can be based on Texas hot wieners, hamburgers (with or without cheese), Italian sausage, or steak. The meatstuff of your choice is plated with piles of baked beans and home-fried potatoes, a scoop of cool macaroni salad, a dollop of spicy chili sauce, a squirt or two of mustard, and a sprinkle of chopped raw onions. It comes with plastic fork and knife, a bottle of Ketchup, some hot sauce, and white bread with butter.

It is a wild, ridiculous, and delicious mess! Especially noteworthy is the sauce, a fine-grained, Greek-accented brew that is also available on such lesser variants of frankfurter cookery as Nick Tahou's peppery pork hots and the basic garlic-packed Texas hots, as well as on grilled hamburgers.

Burgers are OK, but upper New York State is hot dog country. Nick Tahou’s are exemplary, if not epicurean. They are called Texas hots, and they are split and fried, which gives them a nice, chewy exterior and hash house raunch that boiled or even charcoal-grilled weenies do not offer.

As befits its menu, Nick Tahou is an unruly dog house, with chairs and tables scattered around and plenty of noise as customers call out for red hots and white hots with the works. Once upon a time Nick Tahou could satisfy that late night craving for a garbage plate. Alas, today's Nick Tahou closes at 8PM.

The morning's cinnamon rolls are made from grandma's recipe. They are wrapped and ready to go ... or, better yet, ready to be warmed so you can enjoy them at a Daily Grind table with an espresso hammer.

Cuisine, ambience, service: all are Roadfood-perfect at Five-0, a convenience store and deli with a short menu of subs and sandwiches as well as eggs for breakfast. Foremost among Five-O's assets is its footlong chili dog. The dog itself is all gnarled and garlicky; its split-top bun is buttered and grilled to luxurious perfection; and the chili – ahh, the chili! – is Kuhn's. A southern Connecticut legend, Kuhn's brew is not the sort of chili you eat from a bowl. It is more a relish, thin and red-hot, eminently suitable as an exclamatory topping for hot dogs, also quite right as an iconoclastic garnish for a cheese steak sandwich, of which Five-0 makes a beaut.

It's a friendly sort of place. The lone gent who was reading newspapers at the dining room's one and only table graciously extended a hand in welcome when I and my friend Adele (who clued me in to this little gem) came away from the counter toting dog, sandwich, chips and drinks, looking for a place to eat. Nearly all business is take-out, and most of the people standing around waiting for their hot sandwiches to grill and footlongs to be dressed carried on the sort of happy conversation you hear among people who all respect each other because they recognize that they are in the company of fellow connoisseurs.