Peek Inside Holsteins, the Pearl District’s Massive New Burger and Shake Spot

Las Vegas-based Holsteins officially enters the Portland burger, craft beer, and ice cream games today, May 1. Holsteins Shakes and Buns is located in the humungous, 165-seat venue in the Pearl District — formerly home to P.F. Chang’s. It worked with designer James Gundy of 1027 Design, and as the photos above show, the Portland location features the restaurant’s signature neon cow, as well as Japanese anime-style pop art, wrap-around booths, and a sizable bar with flatscreen TVs.

The food and drink menus (below) reveal the full lineup of signature burgers and shakes: The house burgers range from aged, dry-aged, and kobe beef patties to lamb, steelhead, chicken, and vegan burgers — along with that “P-Town” turkey burger, now redubbed the “Timber Turkey.”

And its Portland signature boozy shake? The Bridgetown Birthday Cake is a concoction of Burnside Bourbon, Tillamook vanilla ice cream, chocolate-black-butte-porter cake crumbs, chocolate sauce, and malted milk frosting with caramelized-bacon rice crispies. It’s garnished with whipped cream, a porter cupcake, and confetti sprinkles.

Holsteins Shakes and Buns was founded in Las Vegas in 2010. It opened a second location in California’s Costa Mesa in fall 2015, but that location has since closed. Eater reached out to Billy Richardson, founder of Holsteins and the Block 16 hospitality group (Flour & Barley, The Barrymore), to see why the company saw Portland as a good fit.

“We were drawn to Portland because of the vibrant food and beer scene, two crucial elements of the Holsteins concept,” Richardson tells Eater. “You can’t beat the Portland culture, and we’re excited to bring our version of ‘beer and burger heaven’ to the community.”

Holsteins Shakes and Buns opens its Portland location — its second overall — today at 11 a.m., at 1139 NW Couch St. Moving forward, it will operate daily, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Here are the opening-day menus:

Holsteins

Holsteins

• Holsteins Shakes and Buns [Official]
• All Previous Holsteins Coverage [EPDX]