Sausage Shack

The Sausage Shack is located near the corner of 3rd and Stark in downtown Portland, Oregon. They love wrapping their burgers, hot dogs, and wings with bacon -- and will fry up that bad boy if need be. I had to try them out because everything is better with bacon.

Sausage Shack: 2011 Bacon Cup winner!

In fact, Sausage Shack's Bacon Wrapped Chicken Wings won the Portland 2011 Bacon Cup ("Best Bacon").

Another signature item is their Paul Bronion burger: two 1/3-pound sirloin beef patties, sliced bratwurst, and melted cheddar cheese, topped with lettuce and grilled onion mix. You can even go "Barnyard Style" and add bacon and an egg to it!

This time, I got yet another one of their specialties: the Big Bacon Burner ($6.50), a Louisiana red hot link wrapped in bacon and fried, placed in a hot dog bun with chili, grilled onion mix, shredded cheese, jalapenos, sauerkraut, mustard, ketchup, spicy brown mustard, mayonnaise, and a few hot sauces. It's so big, you really do need a fork for it. Well, unless you don't mind getting the food all over your face, hands, and the ground.

Their impressive toppings and additions menu

Just a few of their signature items!

Big Bacon Burner (Sausage Shack)

I really liked this dish. I feared that there would be way too many ingredients in here, to the point where flavors would clash with one another. However, everything worked here. The spice of the thick hot link and the crispy fried wrapped bacon equaled sinful goodness. The chili had great flavor as well. The tang of the sauerkraut and the zip of the jalapenos nudged my taste buds from their sleep. This was an over-the-top chili bacon dog experience, and I cherished each bite.

I would have liked to see a toasted hot dog bun for next time. And yes, I did have my struggles trying to cut through the bacon dog with a plastic fork and knife. However, none of this stopped me from eating everything. I'm definitely a fan of Sausage Shack. Check this place out! 8/10


EDIT: And one more thing: Sausage Shack actually has a food challenge. You can view a short clip here. A massive amount of food that equals over 8,000 calories. It costs $50 and the challenger has one hour to finish everything. And no, I'm not attempting that challenge. Delicious food, yes. However, I'd be incapacitated for a while -- and we wouldn't want anything jeopardizing my food adventures, would we? (Well, other than a ton of ghost peppers nuking my insides)


The challenge is about 8 pounds of food. The burger has multiple beef patties and is about 6 lbs total. The 2 lbs of sausages are red hots and laced with ghost peppers (and other hot peppers). As of this writing, no one has completed this challenge.