Lardo

Reviews 7

PE

Pechluck Laskey

In their transformation from food cart to two physical restaurants, they still have a very casual level of service. Ive seen this in many places in Portland in order to reduce service staff costs. You go up and order from a chalkboard on the wall, and are handed a number so that your order can be delivered to you, and then you bus yourself to the bins. Wisely, they already have to go boxes for your leftovers out. First of all, the Bloody Mary is quite spicy! I loved it! There haven been many a bloody mary that I have tried around PDX that didnt bring it (and with great distilleries like New Deal with their Hot Monkey vodka and so much heirloom tomatoes and homemade pickling!). Thankfully, Lardo brought it to punch with flavor with their take on a bloody mary. As I waited for my order to be prepared (they do so to order), that bloody mary really raised my expectations of what I was about to experience You may consider bringing a friend to share with if you get the double burger and fries- I felt my heart would burst just eating that half of a Double Burger (with both Cascade natural beef and pork belly as the meats along with the cheddar and lardo sauce) and the Dirty Fries. Oh those Dirty Fries with fried pork fat scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs and parmesan, a tasty but filling combination on the tastebuds of savory and salty and spicy and sour, both crispy and so lingeringly soft in the same chew. Genius. Im not sure why you would not order these fries dirty- you sort of need all those peppers to balance out that pork belly on the burger. Not to say the pork belly isnt delicious- at one point I separated them out to eat them individually to savor them, and even without the pork belly that burger is so juicy and messy and glorious. I can see this showing up on the national charts of Food & Wine as one of the best burgers in the US, and it is definitely in the top 3 for Portland. Meanwhile, Lardos Eggplant Parm Old School with tomato sauce, provolone, basil was messy with its generous saucing, and the breading still had a bit of crispness despite it. It is a good option for the vegetarian who you drag to eat Lardo with you. In fact, Lardo offers two vegetarian sandwiches. Finally, Lardos signature porchetta sandwich with caper aioli, gremolata that have been written up nationally including the recipe shared at Saveur. Its a sandwich of fatty melt in your mouth pork belly that is wrapped around the roasted pork and doesnt apologize for it, and in fact adds all that good olive oil and gremolata on top (though seriously just the meat/fat combo itself is already luscious). Lardo is serious about bringing the fat back. And, it doesnt hurt that now with having a restaurant space (two actually!), they can offer half a dozen options for cocktails and more than a dozen local Northwest microbrew beers to wash that extreme richness down with. They also have pie holes- I stared so wistfully at those pecan pie holes but couldnt muster the courage to add more to my arteries in one meal (well, also considering what gluttony the meal order already consisted of as you see. I more than blew my caloric allowance before dessert...) Not a single thing is more than $10 (though natch- you have to be willing to be in that price range for the sandwich), but every item is an indulgent pleasure that seems to border on sinful in its exaltation of richness.

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MI

Mike Perkins

From food cart to brick-and-mortar, (with a recently opened second location downtown,) Lardo has some of the hands-down best sandwiches in town. Small building on SE Hawthorne with shared seating, but a nice addition of the outside patio with tons of tables and covered a tent option provide more space and make eating in the rain no problem. Made famous by their porchetta Sandwich (which is essentially pig stuffed with more pig and some herbs and rolled up then roasted,) Lardo has stepped it up full bore with even more gourmet sandwiches all on toasted ciabatta such as the Smoked Coppa Cubano (cuban style sando with ham, pickles and mustard) Pork Meatball Banh Mi, Cold Fried Chicken (with bacon and a spicy blue cheese) and my go-to sando, the Korean Pork Shoulder (slow cooked pork with kimchi, and spicy mayo.) For even more goodness, upgrade your meal by getting a side of "dirty fries" (which they toss with pork belly scraps, lardons, pepperoncini, fried herbs, and parmesan cheese) and a pint of craft beer from the available 10 taps at the bar. Its hard not to appreciate a place that has so much love for pig, and even encourages you with giant words hang on the wall decked out in bright lights to "PIG OUT." I suggest you do.

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MD

md ho

Food: Porchetta sandwich ($12) has thick slices of belly cuts instead of the regular cut up chunks that Ive seen at other places. The arugula had way too much dressing so the sandwich was a bit tart. I thought it was an ok sandwich, Ive had better porchetta, but my companion loved it. Fried pig ear ($5) was good but the seasoning was overpowering with too much rosemary and thyme. Dipping it in the spicy honey helped masked the spice and also give it bit of a kick. House made kimchi ($2) was way too salty and had none of the pickled taste. Im still chucking water after just one bite. Location: Indoor and outdoor beer garden style setup. Indoor was way too cold, feels like a freezer. I only see street parking. Service: Pay at counter and serve yourself.

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BE

Benjamin B

Heard good things and was excited to give it a try. I had the lamb meatball and my wife the pork burger. Both were bland and unexciting-not terrible, but not like what i have read about. We tried to discuss the flavors but the music was overwhelmingly (during lunch, really?) loud. The couple sitting next to us said the same. The service was flat, there is no table waiting just someone who brings the food to the table and they were still disappointing. Then we get to bus our own table? I question why I paid $30 for all of this.

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AU

Augusto Matias

Super solid place. Had the double burger and the cheesesteak sandwich. Both were really good. Cheesesteak was a little spicy. Double burger meant double messy. In a good way. Dirty fries to top off the meal. I was stuffed when I left here but I expect nothing less from a place called Lardo. Nice friendly service and good beer selection. Nice outdoor section too bad it was raining though. My only regret was I couldnt try more sandwiches. Next time Ill try the pork belly.

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JA

Jason Ross

Dont believe the hype here. Place has great vibes, style and friendly staff but so far the food has been a huge let down. Korean Pork shoulder was bland and the don Johnson, which resembles a cubano, was seemingly deep fried which made it just disgusting. This was not described on the menu. And the pork in both these was only Ok. Fries are interesting and good, topped with cheese and herbs. Ill give them one more try but not for a while.

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C

C Frick

Dirty tables, dirty bathroom, dirty floors and a ton of flies. Dirty fries are good but that was the highlight. Tuna Salad smelled horrible. Entire meal was totally overpriced. Also too damn loud. We used to really enjoy the location on Williams Ave and ate there fairly frequently. Riding on reputation just aint cutting it. Taking it off of the list sorry to say. Gotta go one star instead of two basically because of the cost.

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