Bullard’s Casual Counterpart in Southeast Portland Starts Serving Fried Chicken and Burgers Thursday

Southeast Portland will soon have a new spot for burgers, fries, and fried chicken buckets. Holler, the long-anticipated family friendly spot from the team behind Bullard, opens its pickup window July 9, with pints of ice cream, beer and wine to-go, and a menu of takeout-friendly Americana, the Oregonian first reported.

Last year, news broke that the team behind Bullard, the nationally acclaimed restaurant within the Woodlark hotel, would open a more casual alternative across the river, with arcade games, blue plate specials, and tvs for watching the game. However, when the restaurant world started grappling with coronavirus, co-owners Jen Quist and Doug Adams decided to put that restaurant opening process on pause. “We were so close to opening, we had a full restaurant. All the equipment was installed,” Quist says. “It was almost like starting over.”

Instead, the team focused on takeout at the other restaurant, and developed a loyal following for it. Even before the restaurant opened, Holler’s fried chicken became a takeout hit — as a part of Bullard’s takeout pre-order menu, which often sells out the day they’re released, Quist and Adams have been offering Holler’s fried chicken as one of the meals available for pickup, alongside its rotating menu of smoked chicken, beef ribs, and other Texas-inflected dinners.

Now, even as restaurants reopen to onsite customers, Holler’s family-friendly dining room is still a ways out. Instead, the restaurant will open its pickup window for carryout orders, still focusing on safe, socially distanced takeout. “Given the state of everything and our very quick experience with takeout at Bullard, it’s obviously something that people are still wanting and needing,” Quist says. “We want to still connect with our guests.”

The restaurant’s menu is primarily centered on fried chicken, sandwiches, and salads, as well as a kid’s menu and ice cream pints. The restaurant’s fried chicken — dry-brined, dunked in buttermilk and seasoned dredge, and fried — comes in various portions, from three wings to a full bird in a bucket, but “the full meal deal,” will likely be the hit with families and picnickers: The full fried bird comes with a large salad, sour cream mashed potatoes, cornbread, pickles, hot sauce, and a pint of ice cream.

Outside the world of fried chicken, the restaurant’s sandwich menu involves a set of burgers (beef and vegetarian Beyond burger), seared hot to create a crust, topped with the ‘50s-nostalgic combo of iceberg, sweet pickles, cheddar, and red onion. The restaurant also puts its fried chicken on a bun with ranch and jalapeno jelly, and offers a biscuit breakfast sandwich before noon with fried chicken, a fried egg, and jalapeno jelly. “When I was a kid, my grandmother would pour a jar of jalapeno jelly over a block of cream cheese,” Adams says. “It’s just sweet and a little bit hot, it just clings to that chicken real nice.” As for the salad side of things, Holler’s menu offers a ranch salad with pepperoncini, a caesar, and a cabbage salad with spicy peanuts and hot mustard dressing.

The kid’s menu clearly reflects Adams’ status as a new parent, with toddler-and-grade-school-level meals like burgers with fries and chicken tenders, plus baby-friendly options like half an avocado with olive oil and herbs. “We’re doing our best to offer a little something for everyone,” Adams says.

Holler opens July 9 at 7119 SE Milwaukie Avenue. Take a look at Holler’s opening menu below:

• Holler [Official]
• ‘Top Chef’ finalist Doug Adams’ family-friendly Sellwood restaurant opens for takeout this Thursday [O]
• The Dream Team Behind Bullard Will Open a Family-Friendly Restaurant in Sellwood-Moreland [EPDX]