Seriously, Though, What’s Going On With Stanich’s?

After almost nine months closed, the nationally celebrated burger peddlers at Stanich’s are still saying the place is going to reopen. Owner Steve Stanich has posted a sign on the door of his almost-70-year-old restaurant dated August 2018, saying the restaurant “hopes to be open soon.” That being said, the website is down, and Google is saying the restaurant is permanently closed.

Stanich’s decided to temporarily close in January for an employee vacation, but Stanich told the Oregonian that the restaurant needed to close for a “deep cleaning,” saying the restaurant will reopen “as soon as next week.” That, of course, didn’t happen. In his Oregonian interview, Stanich had a tone of paradoxical defeat: In May 2017, Stanich’s cheeseburger with grilled onions was named the best burger in America by Thrillist critic Kevin Alexander. The response was so overwhelming that Stanich called it “a curse,” saying the internet outrage and dramatic uptick in business was hard to manage. “We’re a country of blamers. We blame everybody. I don’t blame anybody,” he told the O. “But ever since we won this thing, people were going on the internet telling me how to cook a burger, telling me how screwed up we were, and frankly, that’s why I don’t go on the internet.”

Eater Portland has checked back in periodically over the last few months, and left a message for Stanich to hopefully get a few more details on reopening plans. Stay tuned for more updates — hopefully. If you know anything about the reopening of Stanich’s, please send a note to our tipline.

• Stanich’s [Facebook]
• Stanich’s: Best burger award ‘the worst thing that ever happened to us’ [The O]
• The 100 Best Burgers in America [Thrillist]
• All previous Stanich’s coverage [EPDX]