The Knock Back’s Jesse Card Cures His Hangovers with Stanich’s Special Burger

For now, Jesse Card manages the bar at The Knock Back, the 95-seat bar and performance space hugging Alberta Street, but soon he'll be running the show at Bit House, the highly anticipated 200-seat craft cocktail bar that should be opening in just a few months.

You'd think that as busy as he is that he wouldn't have time to drink enough to suffer a hangover, but, like all good bartenders, he makes time.

And when too much booze gives him the blues, he heads to Stanich's to cure ‘em. We asked him what makes the old-school joint his go-to, and what makes The Special so good.

"For me, there's no better hangover burger in all of PDX than The Special at Stanich's. I've been going there since I played tee-ball, and now it's the only thing I crave when I wake up groggy-eyed, the taste of Rum Club daiquiris still on my tongue.

It's a diner-style flattop burger, that doubles down on pork with bacon and ham. A big fried egg bursts on your first bite, that running yolk mingling with the juicy cheeseburger, mayo and ketchup, the secret sauce that runs down your chin, and I totally sop up every drop.

God, that sauce right there is more effective than a handful of aspirin.

A handful of salty fries and a beer to even my keel and I'm back from the dead."