Battle Ground Village is a new development just outside downtown of Battle Ground, Washington. The area seems to be Battle Ground's attempt to modernize the area and make it more attractive to younger residents. The Coachmen is a relatively new restaurant in Battle Ground Village. My mother suggested that we dine there for lunch and I agreed that it would be good to try something new (new things don't come around often in Clark County).
The restaurant is relatively small. There may be seating for about 20 guests inside and there is additional seating outside if the weather is decent. There were only three other guests in the restaurant when we arrived around noon, pretty bleak for a lunch hour.
Although Battle Ground Village is a relatively new area there is high turnover. The rent in the new buildings is probably too high for the low amount of traffic in the area. This makes it hard for restaurants to stay afloat. I hope that The Coachmen is an exception to this phenomenon because the food was really good.
The menu was relatively simple. They had appetizers, soups and salads, chicken burgers and hamburgers. I appreciated this approach because they took the time to make their few items well instead of serving up a variety of mediocrity. The empty tray you see was filled with pita bread, sliced cucumbers, those tiny tomatoes and had hummus in the cup in the middle. This was a well presented appetizer. I was impressed with the freshness of the vegetables and the quality of the hummus. Definitely would recommend this if you're in the market for an appetizer.
Next came the meat and potatoes (quite literally) of the meal. I had a Jalapeno Burger which was delicious. They use 100% Angus beef patties. The menu said they were half pound patties but the burger seemed larger than many others that claim to be a half pound. The bun was fluffy, the onion rings were cooked just right and they used fresh cut jalapenos! FRESH CUT JALAPENOS! I hadn't ever had those on a burger before, I've only had the lesser-quality pickled jalapenos that appear on most restaurant burgers. The tomato slice was juicy and the lettuce was crisp. All the freshness and quality justified the $9.50 price tag on this burger meal.The other thing pictured is a potato. I'd assume they used an apple peeler and put a potato on it, then stuck a stick through the middle of it. Then they dip the stick in a light batter and deep fry it. What you end up with is something similar to a huge curly fry. The texture of this creation was amazing, the potato was soft inside but the outside was crispy. It was the best of both worlds when it comes to fries. They also gave us a side of their custom cucumber-ranch dressing to dip them. The cucumber-ranch, like everything else served, was very well done. It had a great flavor and texture.
Overall, if you want a great burger and you're in Clark County you need to go to The Coachmen. This place is way better than Red Robin's "gourmet burgers" and any other place I've been to in the area. If you know of a better place I'd love to know because this is the best place around here.
The Coachmen
1417 SE Rasmussen Boulevard, #130
Battle Ground, WA 98604
Looks delicious!
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