Lardo takes its name from the cured Italian fatback — a fitting banner for a sandwich shop built around pork and beef. It started as a food cart in SE Portland in September 2010, opened by chef and owner Rick Gencarelli, who trained at the Culinary Institute of America and worked kitchens including Aqua in San Francisco, Todd English's Olives, Rubicon, One Market, and the Inn at Shelburne Farms in Vermont before landing in Portland.
The menu runs toward pork-drenched double burgers, a meatball banh mi, and hand-cut fries piled with more pork, alongside a rotating beer list and a handful of cocktails. The bread comes from Dos Hermanos Bakery.
The sandwiches draw the most consistent praise, with unexpected flavor combinations that keep regulars coming back, though sides get more mixed reactions from visit to visit.
The menu runs toward pork-drenched double burgers, a meatball banh mi, and hand-cut fries piled with more pork, alongside a rotating beer list and a handful of cocktails. The bread comes from Dos Hermanos Bakery.
The sandwiches draw the most consistent praise, with unexpected flavor combinations that keep regulars coming back, though sides get more mixed reactions from visit to visit.