Lardo

Korean Pork Shoulder Sandwich! Spiced pork shoulder, kimchee, mayo, cilantro on a banh mi roll. Paired this with the dirty fries… that had mama lil’s peppers, fried pork shoulder bits, fried herbs and parmesan… match made in porky heaven! Heard about this place years ago and couldn’t believe it took so long! Way better than the other sandwich shop that gets all the attention!

Friggin amazing porchetta. this place is must for pork lovers. The dirty fries is my fav. It’s a ton of fries with lots of porchetta bits and pepperoncini slices.

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. I
t’s 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.

the food was great! loved the fries, don’t skip the fried Brussels sprouts! they were so tasty can’t wait to come back and try more sandwiches. Boyfriend said the double burger is one of the best out there. service was pretty quick despite a small line. Can’t wait to visit again!

Danny’s Unilocal 2016.
PIG OUT!
You must order a sandwich and their dirty fries and bring it over to Grassa to order their Pork Belly Mac & Cheese. IT’S A MUST when you’re here! Lardo & Grassa is a brother sister restaurant. It seems like Portland has a lot of love for anything that’s pork related… haha.
Food:
+ Korean Pork Shoulder Sandwich with house kimchi, chili mayo, cilantro, & lime. $ 10 –Honestly, I think this was the best sandwich there cause the flavor was well balanced with everything on it.
+ Dirty Fries with pork scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs, & parmesan. $ 8 — I would recommend just to get 1 of these and try it with your friends. It’s good but you might be bored of it!
Notes/​Tips:
+ They give you a good portion for the amount you pay for your meal.
+ Order your food then bring it over to Grassa. I promise you won’t be disappointed! :)
+ There’s a sign inside that says «Pig Out» where you can show the whole world that you’re a fatty… hahah just kidding but seriously the sign caught my eyes. I remember my friend’s sister was telling me about this spot earlier last year.
Conclusion: This a ‘must stop’ for anyone who’s in Portland or visiting. PIG OUT!
See you soon, Lardos!

Finally made it back to Lardo and unfortunately the cold fried chicken sandwich os not on the menu, so I went with the Double Burger and my dining buddy went with the Korean Pork Shoulder sandwich, we had them cut in half and we split both.
The Double Burger was meh, it was ok. I loved the way the meat was cooked but other than that very pedestrian I thought, especially for a frog-​frou burger. I really expected a lot more.
The Korean Pork shoulder sandwich is something i would never order, my dining buddy did and man am I glad they did. House made kimchi, cilantro, sauce, pork, my god this thing had flavor coming from every direction fantastic sandwich.
I will be back but next time I am going to order something I would never normally order like the Korean Pork Shoulder, or the old standby Cold Fried Chicken.

I ordered 2 tuna melts and 2 kids cheese burgers to go. I really wanted to like my sandwich, really, but the UNDISCLOSED CAPERS (quite possibly the most disgusting thing in the food world) in my sandwich was disappointment at first bite. I tried to pick out the bazillion little balls of puke, but it was no use, the taste was still in my sandwich, and not to mention the red olive paste that was smeared on looks like period blood, and probably tastes about the same… Super salty and yucky.
I tried to sneek it to my boyfriend, hoping I was just being picky, but his face said it all after the first bite
I was laughing so hard, it is that bad. Too salty, too sour… because of those damn capers and olive paste.
Please set all your capers on fire.
If those things were out of it, it would probably be great. Would i want to take another chance to spend money on a lunch I can’t swallow???
I will say that fries were good, the bread was good, the kids cheeseburgers were good, but plain– so ask for ketchup or lettuce.
Staff was friendly

A friend recommended this place to us for their dirty fries, which we ordered of course. The dirty fries was piled with peppers, pork, bacon, rosemary, and other good stuff. Surprisingly the fries remained crispy regardless of how much stuff was in it. The pork was mostly fat though so we left that there.
I ordered the Phở-​ench dip. It’s definitely an innovative way to eat phở. The soup could’ve have been hotter. The meat, veggies, and bean sprouts all tasted really good in a sandwich. It was different and unique, I loved the idea but the taste was ok. My boyfriend ordered the pork shoulder kimchi. He absolutely loved his sandwich. I took a bite and it wasn’t my type of thing, not a big kimchi fan. But the sandwich undoubtedly had a ton of flavor.
Shortly after we ate here, I had bowel issues for the rest of the night. Not sure if it was something I ate here, but I can tell you I didn’t eat anything else afterwards. Nonetheless, this place is definitely worth a try.

It’s pork city in here! Everything here was really good and very filling. It’s a popular place, so finding a seat was really difficult. We ended up ordering to go, but during our wait time we were able to snag some seats. I made a huge mess trying to eat my meal. That’s already my baseline… so to have food like this was just setting me up for a messy failure.
Korean Pork Shoulder– too much kimchi, otherwise yummy
Porchetta– delicious, but oil kept spilling out. I liked it better than the Korean Pork
Dirty fries– not so dirty for me cause I used a fork!
I definitely felt the need to work out after my meal at Lardo’s, but it wouldn’t stop me from coming back. Maybe with a bib next time.

4.5 stars.
Pork meatball banh mi is super duper like super duper good. The bread is nice and soft, and it soaks up the juice from the slaw and meatballs. Dirty fries are amazing. Loved that there were peppercinis mixed with the fries.
Wish they had a location in Orange County…

All this week they have Barley Brown’s beer on tap! This beer is delicious and varied and worth the special trip to Lardo to try some that you might not see around often.
Super friendly staff working the counter. We got there right when they opened at 11 and within 15 – 20 minutes the place was full and jammin’.
I ate the Chicken Gyro which was a tad spicy but not too much. I thought I’d be turned off by the herbed up fries on the sandwich but I actually really liked the layer of flavor and crunch that they added.
My friend had the turkey meatloaf sandwich and it looked tasty. I wanted to order the «Phở-​rench» dip because the name /​spelling cracked me up… maybe next time.
I got the pickle because I love a big snappy sour with a sandwich but it just didn’t have the crisp I was hoping for. Maybe I just got an old one out of the big jar?
This was my first time in this Lardo location — since it was Jonny Bs diner way back when. I enjoyed our experience: food, beer, service and great company made it a wonderful way to spend a Saturday lunch.
Go early if you don’t want to wait too long for a table.

OK Portland, the bar for the best burger has been set and it is EXTREMELY high! The Double Burger from Lardo just set the bar.
The Tuna Sandwich with Mama Lil’s peppers is also outstanding! Add an order of the fries and a couple of «Rumdingers» and you have the perfect Saturday lunch!
Nice job Lardos!

We were told that we had to go to lardo when visiting Portland. This gave us huge expectations. As a vegetarian, I guess I always have a different take on meat restaurants haha!
Lardo was so so. The owner was actually sitting on the dining area taking a icy ute of the new salad that would be on the menu the next day. He actually just gave the salad to us to share!!! It was really
Nice and thoughtful of him!

They make an amazing veggie meatball sub (if you can believe such a thing exists). The veggie meatballs are soft and flavorful, the bread is perfectly firm, and they stuff in cloud-​like balls of mozzarella. The kale salad is also a winner.
The fries are probably a pass, though. They are super, super, super salty, even when you douse them with ketchup.
Of course with a name like Lardo, this place gets filled with all of us Portland Lardos, and it is rather hard to find a seat. Then again, it is a strange and amusing sight, watching passive-​agressive Portlanders jockeying for one of the few open spaces.
And of course like almost every popular place in Portland these days, there is tip creep. You order at the counter. Yes, the staff does deliver your food. But then, you are expected to bus your own tables. What exactly warrants a gratuity in such a place is beyond my comprehension.
But the sandwiches are good.

This visit was sadly a big miss! The prices for our two favorite things have gone up. The dirty fries from $ 7 to $ 8, which is fine but if your going to up the prices don’t cut the quantity back. You used to get a huge plate that was more than enough to feed three people. When two of us can share an order now and are looking for more as we dig through the remains of peppers, herbs and cheese you know something has changed.
Don’t let the name Double Burger scare you. The patties are pretty small, and the bun swallows them. I like a medium cooked burger but today we were served one that was almost raw. They did make us a new burger but by the time it came back we were done with the small plate of dirty fries.
We frequent Lardo at least 3 – 4 times a month but I’m starting to rethink about giving my hard earned money to this business. This makes me sad, very sad.

Part 14 in my Oregon adventures!
«Too few people understand a really good sandwich.» –James Beard
When Subway uses the term, «Sandwich Artist» to describe their employees, I really must protest and say that title really belongs to the folks up at Lardo.
All of our choices were bursting with flavor!
Our friends got:
Phở’rench Dip — Roast beef, hoisin, sambal mayo, sprouts, phở beef broth $ 12
Korean Pork Shoulder — House kimchi, chili mayo, cilantro, lime $ 9
Their consensus was that the Banh Mi was delicious! The Phở broth was a perfect dipping sauce and complemented the flavors perfectly. They felt that the kimchi in the Korean Pork Shoulder was a bit too spicy for comfort, but still good!
My hubs and I ordered:
Turkey Cubano — House smoked turkey breast, turkey leg confit, pickles, lardo sauce, American cheese $ 9
Double Burger — Cascade natural beef, porkstrami, cheddar, lettuce, lardo sauce $ 9
Both of these were delicious! The hubs’ burger was so juicy that Carl’s Jr ain’t got nothin’ on them. So good! My Turkey Cubano was awesome. The Lardo sauce reminded me of a kickin’ remoulade and gave the perfect amount of heat to the very flavorful turkey!
We all shared an order of Dirty Fries: Fries with pork scraps, marinated peppers, fried herbs and parmesan $ 7.
This was really nice! A heap of fries piled high with awesome toppings! I’m pretty sure the word «Dirty» is related to your hands since there was’t really anything to «stick» these toppings to the fries; so you’re gonna have to get a bit messy to enjoy this.
If you’re in the Portland area, and you have a hankering for a great sandwich, don’t miss Lardo! Parking can be a challenge though, as it is just along the streets. The secret is also out about this place, so expect a few lines.

Saturday, 8:00 PM.
Ordered take-​out.
Quickie:
+ Good food
+ Menu variety
And then???
Lardo turning me into one (??). I’ll be back.
**********
Stuffed my face in:
1. Cold Fried Chicken with bacon, blue cheese, pickles, Crystal Hot Sauce

Sadly disappointed. With so many positive reviews I thought I would have enjoyed this meal. But everything seemed to be one-​noted.
The Porchetta was just two fatty slabs of pork belly. (²⁄₅)
The kimchi pork was probably the best thing we had and that was mostly because it was more balanced than the other items. I had about ¼ of this sandwich and by the end it just tasted like kimchi and nothing else.(3/5)
The dirty fries were not memorable. Portion was legs but I didn’t really feel the combination of items in it. Again, disappointed because I LOVE fries (²⁄₅)
And lastly the pig ears… The guy at the counter described it as thinly sliced pig ears deep fried … These were NOT thinly sliced. More like chunks! And chewy. (¹⁄₅)

Good spot. Very solid. Located across the street from the small plaza with food stands — Potato Champion, Pyros Pizza, etc. Lardo caught my attention because of all the greasy and fatty food offerings.
Fried Pig Ears: Amazing! Fatty and crispy bites from heaven. Its like pork rinds but 10x better! And that green sauce on the side gives it a nice spicy kick. Yum!
Dirty Fries: They have everything on them — literally. This is meant to share because the portion is just crazy big!
Porchetta Sandwich: Didn’t try it but I wish I did — but I was too full. My friend ate it and really enjoyed it.
If I am back, I am hitting this place again.

Portland, day 4, stop 4, take out sandwiches.
Double burger — ³⁄₅ — Porkstrami was good, but the burger was average otherwise.
Dirty fries — ⁵⁄₅ — Great fries. Huge chunks of pork, tons of garlic and bell peppers over crispy fries. Could have used a bit more cheese.
Porchetta sandwich — ⁵⁄₅ — Amazing. Massive slab of porchetta. Would get this again in a heartbeat.
Overall, porchetta sandwich and dirty fries are «as good as it gets.»