Restaurant Review: Pints and Quarts

Plants joyfully spill out of brightly painted oil drums under the curved, vintage awning of what was a tire shop on the corner of Ross and Greenville. Inside, everything is poppy orange, lime, white—upbeat and Creamsicle bright. There’s energy, like a hit of childhood summer. Potato buns, furnished locally each day, come burnished bronze and buttery from the grill. Burgers sizzle. With almost everything freshly made in-house, Pints and Quarts seamlessly blends retro and modern. Take the Street Car hot dog, where phenomenal house-cured sauerkraut—seasoned with cumin, coriander, juniper berries, and green chiles rendered in bacon fat—melds with caramelized onions. That bright-yellow mustard that seemed so daunting turns out to be perfect, and housemade tomatillo pickle relish has its sweet-tangy say. Vegetarians, rejoice! Amid burgers, the Mind Your P’s marinated and grilled portobello cap, thick and juicy as a portobello steak, is no sulky concession but a righteous, riotously good treatment in its own right, overflowing with poblano cream cheese and roasted poblanos. (Scoop off half of the cream, and the balsamic glaze’s lively tang can cut through.) Fresh-cut Kennebec fries, creamy-centered and well-seasoned, aren’t just something you cram in your mouth between burger bites.