Reviews
Mix - Jan. 2009
The Oregonian
The Oregonian April 11, 2008
Amid the clutter of bric-a-brac and the elbow-to-elbow regulars crammed expectantly in, it hardly seems possible that the place can hold the massive platter of the breakfast classic that the kitchen puts out. Three fluffy biscuits, each bigger than a tennis ball, come smothered in a thick gravy that's perked up by generous lashings of sausage bits but which still retains a homey gentleness. Doesn't matter how much coffee you wash it down with: Clean this plate and you'll need a nap.
Zagat Guide
Fat City Cafe
Posted: November 21, 2006 at 10:14 am by: Paul Gerald. Last update: December 29, 2006.
Here’s how you do a Breakfast with the Fellas. You go to a place like the Fat City Cafe, the kind of place where as Steve Duin once put it in The Oregonian, “The waitress has some attitude and the coffee has a little body … or maybe the other way around.”
Ponder the name for a moment: Fat City. Would you eat in a place called Thin Town? Every time I’ve been there, the special on the chalkboard was some kind of sausage: Italian, Cajun, Spicy, Smoked. The spicy sausage is precisely that, and a guy can earn points for eating it without complaint. In the fall, they go nuts and have pumpkin pancakes. The menu includes omelets, scrambles and 'sizzles.' The bacon is crisp, the coffee never stops coming, and the waitresses work hard, do a great job, and take no slack.
I eat there with Bob, Phil and Mick, and order 'Fat City Sizzle,' which is fun to say on about 10 different levels. It’s actually a pile of hashbrowns, ham, green peppers, onions, and cheddar with two eggs on top. The 'Fat City Sizzle' is so big it looks like it may have been served with a shovel, and it comes with either a pancake or bread on the side. Yes, you can get the hashbrowns AND the pancake/bread option at the Fat City! Carbs schmarbs.
The décor of the place isn’t exactly American Guy, but it works. Kind of a road theme, with old signs and license plates stuck up on the wall. I particularly care for the Coca Cola ceiling fan. There’s some mildly freaky art that appears to be of restaurant staff; it also appears that somebody keeps trying to cover it up with seasonal decorations and Fat City tee shirts. The bathroom is Pure American Goofy: a super-narrow door between the counter and the kitchen, and once you’re in you can’t even take a step forward before you have to turn right for the barely-bigger-than-the-toilet room.
Of course, the place is pretty old, and if it looks like it’s in a small town, it is. Multnomah Village dates to the 1910s, when a community sprang up around an Oregon Electric Railroad station. Portland annexed it starting in the 1950s, but they still celebrate “Multnomah Days” with a parade and a street festival in August. In fact, the “village” itself is much more Lady Habitat, with shops and bookstores and whatnot; it’s often called “quaint.”
On your way back to your table, you might notice an Oregonian article on the wall. That would be the account of the 1987 Fat City Firing, perhaps the ultimate Breakfast With the Fellas Gone Wrong. On this side, we had the mayor of Portland, Bud Clark, the ultimate fella himself who came out of nowhere to get elected mayor, then retired to Permanent Folk Hero Status. (Ever seen the “Expose Yourself to Art” poster with the guy exposing himself to the naked-lady statue? That’s Bud.) In the other seat, we had his police chief, his third police chief, one Jim Davis. There was some legal issue being discussed, and apparently Davis’s assertion that “Read my lips: Yes I can” was met with Clark’s witty retort, “Read my lips: You’re fired.” That’s right, the mayor fired the police chief right here in this booth, which gives the place a certain historic credibility.
To me, though, the point is really this: Where else would two fellas who needed to talk some stuff out go for breakfast? It wasn’t the Alameda Ass-Kicking, was it? Or the Bread and Ink Bashing? Tin Shed Tanking?
Nope. It was a fella's breakfast. Read my lips: Fat. City. Firing. Mmmmmm.
Fat City Cafe
Address: 7820 Southwest Capitol Highway, Portland OR. 97219
Hours: 6:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day; breakfast served all the time.
Phone: 503-245-5457
Open Since: The 70s
Payment: Cash and cards
Reservations? No
Large groups? Not at the same table.
Wait: Medium on weekends.
Price Range (typical meal with coffee and tip): $8-11
Coffee: Standard diner
Other drinks: The usual
Wi-Fi/Internet? No.
Feel: In a small town, a long, long time ago …
Seating: Half a dozen booths, a couple tables and a counter.
Changes/Substitutions: Yes, and splits available with extra plate of
hashbrowns for $1.50
Portion Size: Heapin’
Feel-goods: You don’t have to eat the whole thing.
Healthy Options: See above.
The Oregonian
Juicy burgers, beefy hotdogs, shakes so think that you can barely suck them through straws/ and/ you get the mixing cup, too. This is it: milkshake nirvana, a real-deal diner and a rarity in these days of theme-parky impostors and cut-rate operations. Hovering around the $4 for essentially two servings, shakes are both perfect and inexpensive--an almost too-good-to-be-true combination. The butterscotch tastes like liquefied Brach's candy while malteds pack a punch of robust flavor. $3.95-$4.25. 7820 SW Capitol Hwy, 503-245-5457.
Oregonian, August 13, 2009