Olympic Provisions

Not too long along we quietly declared Lardo as having the best sandwiches in Portland and we still believe they have great sandwiches, but Olympic Provisions has inched their way onto the list of Portland's obsession with meat, bread and cheese. Located in the gorgeous industrial Olympic Mill Building in the SE warehouse district; Olympic Provision's SE restaurant is prominently displayed in Portlandia's mock-music video "Dream of the 1890s" and rightfully so, the old world charm of this restaurant just hits us in all the right aesthetic spots. The subway tile, exposed piping and exhaust system, concrete floor, wood ceiling, antique fixtures, a full wall of wines with a librarian ladder and a window showing meat aging in the curing room, how could you not love this place? Especially after you try any of their charcuterie boards or, as we did, sandwiches. You'll find this European inspired salumeria to be a Portland gem!

Cedo's Falafel

It's nice to have Cedo's Falafel move into the neighborhood. They took over the space once occupied by Wayne's Hotdogs and kept the long window seating along the length of the restaurant. It's cheerful and a colorful local spot that serves terrific falafels and gyros. Although there is no gyros spit spinning in the window, there is great lentil soup and friendly service. Welcome to the neighborhood Cedo!

del INTI: Peruvian Restaurant

{beef heart skewers}

{blanched octopus with pork ragu and creamed sauteed kale}

{marinated golden beets with deep fried bacon}

{langoustine ceviche}

{mike - sadly, he's not available on the menu}

{terrific cocktails and drinks}

We love Peruvian Food and thankfully Portland has had a mini-explosion of Peruvian restaurants in the last couple of years. The Peruvian food we have had is much less tortilla/bean/meat focused than Mexican food, as well as much healthier and lighter, with an innovative use of seafood. del INTI utilizes Pacific Northwest ingredients and adds a nouveau South American twists to its dishes  - a match made in heaven in our opinion. This was a small sampling of our meal and with a menu that changes almost daily, we'll be back!

Life, As Of Late

It's Christmas time and our calendar is filling up fast with dinners, celebrations, holiday bazaares, Christmas markets, and of course we're squeezing in as much time outside as possible. Our holiday decorations are up and we're ready to spread some holiday cheer, even if it's just between us two. Here's our life, as of late.

Lardo - Currently Portland's Best Sandwich Shop

Portland is a sandwich kind of town and we have an obsessive amount of bakeries and meat purveyors to prove it. What started as a food cart, but now a brick and mortar, Lardo has skyrocketed to the top of our list of Portland's best sandwich shop. Sure there are other great places to get a sandwich, but we were greatly impressed with their selection of creative sandwich combos that were executed exquisitely. We were originally intending to try their pork meatball banh mi, but ended up trying their Double Burger (you can only get a double) and their cold fried chicken sandwiches. Both sandwiches knocked our socks off! The Double Burger came with pork belly, cheddar and Lardo sauce. Wow that pork belly! The Cold Fried Chicken came with bacon, lettuce and a very mild buttermilk blue cheese. It wasn't crispy, but hella flavorful, which made for a great sandwich! 

The topper was Lardo's Dirty Fries. The deep fried pork belly "scraps" that resembled the small bits of fries usually remaining at the end of a plate of fries was like finding a surprise that your mouth never knew was coming. And the deep fried rosemary initially looked like we were eating pine needles, because they were deep fried, simply disintegrated in our mouths. Topped with pepperoncinis and sweet peppers, the Dirty Fries was easily the best fries plate we've ever had. Nicely done Lardo! At first glace the plastic tented area looked strange, but we can see now they needed to add seats for their growing legions of devotees. We'll be back to try that meatball banh mi, that's for sure!

Life, As of Late

It's been raining and cold, but there have been dry days also. Nothing too unusual for this time of year. Wool coats, boots, scarves, beanies and gloves have been out in full force for a while now. It's been getting dark early so when there's a dry bright moment we take advantage of it, get outside and roam around for a bit. 

Via Tribunali

Yup, we were one of those customers. You know - HIGH MAINTENANCE customers. First we kept getting in everyone's way by the door while we waited in the tiny entrance; asked for a bar stool only to decide we could get better photos if we stood and continued to get in everyone's way; took up two precious seats at the bar for drinks only; turned down the table when it was ready because it was by the bathroom; only to return to the bar to dine and asked if we each could use a free pizza coupon. But it was worth it because Via Tribunali was terrific. I still don't prefer the charred-spongy Neapolitan dough to other styles of pizza, but Via Tribunali's pizzas were absolutely scrumptious, even if I left most of the crust on the plate. 

The 1000 degree pizza dome oven cranks out pizzas in 1 minute. This created a light and beautifully charred pizza crust that highlighted the perfect pomodoro tomato sauce well. Due to a stroke of luck or pure genius, we were able to each get a free margarita pizza, since we weren't at a table, so we decided to get the selection of Salumi's cured meats, fancy castelvetrano olives and grana padano (soft parmesian like cheese) and added it our margarita pizzas. It was decadent and delicious. We topped the night off with the best tiramisu we've ever had. Located in Old Town, the dark wood was cozy and comforting as the pizza was on a cold dark night. Bonus was sitting near the insanely gorgeous handcranked meat slicer, this machine was a true beauty.