Pasta at Rick Gencarelli’s Grassa Portland

May 16, 2014 by 8 Comments

If you are a regular visitor of my blog, you probably know I am a fan of Rick Gencarelli. I’ve been going to Lardo monthly for their Lardo Chefwiches. As an aside, they recently finishd running through the latest 6 chefwiches, so the big Lardo Chefwich Party is now coming up on Sunday June 8th at the 1212 SE Hawthorne location, from 12-4 for $20. If you missed any of this year’s six, here’s a chance to try them all out, and there will be also a beer tap takeover by Crux Fermentation Project at the event.
Lardo Chefwich Party is now coming up on Sunday June 8th at the 1212 SE Hawthorne location, from 12-4 for $20. If you missed any of this year's six, here's a chance to try them all out, and there will be also a beer tap takeover by Crux Fermentation Project at the event.

Sometimes though, I might instead go next door to Grassa which is right next to Lardo (in fact there is a connecting door) at their location of Southwest 12th and Washington. I have not yet had the pleasure/greed to order from both Lardo and Grassa in a single meal- but I have thought about it.

I love sitting at the counter in Grassa and watching them make their fresh pasta. It takes a lot of willpower not to reach over and grab some pasta and just eat it raw, right then and there.

The pasta at Rick Gencarelli's Grassa is made fresh, right in front of you!

On this particular visit several months ago, a friend ordered (I think) the Italian Sausage pasta with peppers, onions, basil, grana, escarole.
Grassa's pasta dish of Italian Sausage pasta with peppers, onions, basil, grana, escarole in Portland Grassa's pasta dish of Italian Sausage pasta with peppers, onions, basil, grana, escarole in Portland

Also on deck for me was the Carbonara with bucatini, pork belly, and slow cooked egg
Grassa's pasta dish of Carbonara with bucatini, pork belly, slow cooked egg in Portland Grassa's pasta dish of Carbonara with bucatini, pork belly, slow cooked egg in Portland

The meatballs at Grassa are incredible.
Grassa's meatball dish in Portland

I would recommend ordering this as your side instead of the garlic bread that I ordered on my last recap post of a Grassa Visit that included the Radiatore with tomato braised chicken, crisp skin, ricotta, basil (which has turned into agnolotti with chicken liver mouse, jalapeno butter, but still that crisp chicken skin this season) and the Bucatini wtih hazelnut pesto, zucchini, mozzarella crema. Neither of those original pasta dishes are on their current menu anymore- so check every once in a while to see what new pasta masterpiece is now on the menu!

Bucatini wtih hazelnut pesto, zucchini, mozzarella crema and Radiatore with tomato braised chicken, crisp skin, ricotta, basil, from Grassa by Rick Gencarelli

On yet another much more recent visit (this month), I tried out the Creste Di Gallo with pancetta, whipped ricotta, English peas, fine herbs and grana.
Grassa Portland's Creste Di Gallo with pancetta, whipped ricotta, English peas, fine herbs and grana Grassa Portland's Creste Di Gallo with pancetta, whipped ricotta, English peas, fine herbs and grana Grassa Portland's Creste Di Gallo with pancetta, whipped ricotta, English peas, fine herbs and grana

Is this too much pasta porn for you? I don’t feel bad at all about it.

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Eat Mobile 2014 Recap

May 14, 2014 by 12 Comments

Even though I was drenched in a downpour of sideways rain the moment I stepped off the bus onto the Burnside Bridge to walk to Eat Mobile 2014, I was not deterred. Judging by the line of a 20 people already in front of me 30 minutes before the VIP admission started, neither were many other food court lovers.

This year, this annual food cart festival was held on a Sunday rather then a Saturday, and less tickets were sold, resulting in a less crazy experience in terms of lines and crowds. Although it alternated between rain and sunshine, the attendees persevered on, and I seem to be improving in terms of my food photos at food festivals held outdoors!
Eat Mobile 2014 Eat Mobile 2014

There were about 30 food carts that participated this year. The award winners for this year included PDX Sliders for the Carty Award (judged by a select panel) for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama’s Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from PDX Sliders, won the Carty Award for their Broadway Slider, a juicy sammie of braised pork, Mama's Lil Peppers, baby arugula, housemade spicy aioli all on ciabatta

Meanwhile the People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw.
Eat Mobile 2014 - The People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw. Eat Mobile 2014 - The People’s Choice award went to 808 Grinds for their kalua pig on crispy wonton with Asian Slaw.

Here’s my Eat Mobile 2014 Recap in photos, which is all I know you came for anyway.

My personal vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow’s Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles… YUM. Also, their cart is adorable!
Eat Mobile 2014 My vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow's Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles... YUM. Also, their cart is adorable! Eat Mobile 2014 My vote for best food cart sample was Mama Chow's Kitchen with their sample of fried chicken wings with honey soy glaze, garlic noodles... YUM.

My personal vote for best style went to Hungry Heart Cupcakes for their beautiful display of baked treats on silver platters. Talk about being incredibly prepared for this event but never giving up on detail!
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX
I wanted to have more than one, but respectfully only took one sample, and of all the offerings zeroed in on the “Sweet n Salty” chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX of the Sweet n Salty chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Hungry Heart PDX of the Sweet n Salty chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting and bacon and salted caramel

The next vote for style would have been Mix and Match Creamery, who was putting on quite a show as they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap’n Crunch.
The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch The ice cream show at Mix and Match Creamery as they they were making various combinations of ice cream and toppings with liquid nitrogen at their station, such as mint + Heath bar, vanilla + Butterfinger, and what I tried which was with Cap'n Crunch

The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip’s Original Salted Honey Doughnut! They won the prize for Style Award.
The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip's Original Salted Honey Doughnut! The longest line of the whole food cart festival was for Fifty Licks. You could have a little mini scoop or baby ice cream cone with choices of flavors such as Blood Orange Creamsicle, Jasmine Rice with Pandan, Coconut Lemon Saffron Sorbet, Stumptown Coffee, Chocolate Brown Butter, or my choice, the current new seasonal flavor of Pip's Original Salted Honey Doughnut!

I couldn’t help but adore the deep dish pizza served up by Thick Deep Dish pizza since I am originally from Chicago.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Thick Deep Dish Pizza Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Thick Deep Dish Pizza

Also, I loved the enthusiasm of Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce.
Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce Eat Mobile 2014- Bro-Dogs & Burgers who was killing it with their sample bite of Baby Dude, which includes a smoked bacon and cheddar sausage, bacon, cream cheese, and house bbq sauce

Hapa Ramen’s Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen
Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen Eat Mobile 2014 - sample of Hapa Ramen's Shaka Bowl, or pork belly ramen

I really like the ratio of the pimento cheese to crackers that Southern Belle’s served up. I also loved the intensity of flavor from the half of a chicken dumpling sample from Momo Cart, the dumpling is stuffed with chicken, garlic, onion, and Nepali spices. Gonzo also delivered on flavors and texture fun with their falafel and hummus sample.
I really like the ratio of the pimento cheese to crackers that Southern Belle's served up at Eat Mobile 2014 Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Momo Cart, nice intensity of flavor from the half of a chicken dumpling sample from Momo Cart, the dumpling is stuffed with chicken, garlic, onion, and Nepali spices Eat Mobile 2014 - Gonzo's also delivered on flavors and texture fun with their falafel and hummus.

Props to the personable service and considerate option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce was very tasty. Meanwhile, Koi Fusion previewed a taste of their just opened Division brick and mortar location via their sample of Kimchi tortilla soup and that now they can rotate and try out more Korean American fusion dishes.
Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Love Belizean, option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Love Belizean, option of meat or vegetarian from the Love Belizean cart of either Roasted Red Pepper Tritip or Red Beans in Coconut Curry, either one served with coconut rice and habenero hot sauce

Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork.
Eat Mobile 2014- Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork. Eat Mobile 2014- Whole Foods also thoughtfully offered a meat or vegetarian option with their healthy samples of Asian Rice Noodle Salad with seasonal and organic vegetables, with or without French Prairie Pork.

Moberi also provided a healthy option with their bicycle powered kale coconut water mango pineapple mint smoothies
Eat Mobile 2014 = Moberi also provided a healthy option with their bicycle powered kale coconut water mango pineapple mint smoothies

Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos
Eat Mobile 2014 - Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos Eat Mobile 2014 - Taqueria la Merced delivered on flavor with these tacos

Samples of all the colors via the chicken thighs brined in Thrive Special sauce over brown rice and vegetables from Thrive Pacific NW / Khao Man Gai dish over brown rice from Kesone Asian Fusion
Eat Mobile 2014 - chicken thighs brined in Thrive Special sauce over brown rice and vegetables from Thrive Pacific NW Eat Mobile 2014 - Khao Man Gai dish bite from Kesone Asian Fusion

Two kinds of popcorn were at the festival this year, Topped IKC (kettle corn that could be topped with chocolate or caramel or both) and also a little booth for Masala Pop (mixed with Indian spices)
Eat Mobile 2014 - Topped IFC (kettle corn that could be topped with chocolate or caramel or both) "Eat

Bite from the Art Institute of Portland / a sample from Creperie du Lys / sweet taste of dessert thanks to Mildred’s Sweet Treats
"Eat Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Creperie du Lys Eat Mobile 2014 - bite from Mildred's Sweet Treats

Since like before, it was held in the OMSI parking lot, OMSI had some food science demos roving around.
Eat Mobile 2014 - OMSI food science demos roving around the food cart festival

I am looking forward to the festival again next year, rain or shine!

Did you attend Eat Mobile? Did you wish you did? What taste would you have said was the best?

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Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollup Recipe

May 12, 2014 by 2 Comments

Rather than laying out lasagna the traditional way across a casserole dish and then having to cut pieces, I like the idea of individual rolled pieces that this Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe calls for. it’s a great to portion out servings for a group. They are easy to make, and by roasting the vegetables it adds more flavor and is a great alternative to meat lasagna. A little red pepper adds a subtle little additional kick.
Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe

It may look like this has a lot of ingredients, but it’s really based on you

Ingredients:

  • 12 long lasagna noodles- you want them to be longer and not the short ones that you put two across in a dish in order to have enough to roll them. You can use regular or whole wheat pasta if you want these healthier – I used regular.
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil, divided with 2 tablespoons for the roasted vegetables
  • 4 cups finely chopped vegetables- you can just use spinach, but since I knew some guests I was sharing this with were not a fan of cooked spinach I used a mix of frozen vegetables I had in the freezer that I had to use as my freezer was no longer freezing- carrots, peas, carrots, asparagus tips, squash… your choice! Fresh vegetables are better than frozen, but frozen is easy. Your call here too.
  • 1 teaspoon of chopped sage
  • 1 teaspoon of cumin
  • 15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese (1 container)
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/2 tablespoon chopped oregano
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or you can use a close of minced garlic to up the garlic level!)
  • 3 1/4 cups shredded Italian cheese, such as mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, or a blend, divided into 3 cups for the filling and 1/2 cup for topping. I like using a blend as the various cheeses rather than one cheese adds more depth but just using low fat mozzarella is healthier
  • Salt ( to taste)
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • At least approximately 3 1/2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
  • 1 teaspoon of red pepper
  • Optional- Parmesan for topping

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a aluminum foil lined 13×9 pan, spread the vegetables and then spread the 2 tablespoon of olive oil so all the vegetables are coated. Now season with the salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of chopped sage, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and roast for about 40 minutes. Remove and let cool. Now I decided to roast with those seasonings but you can get away with simple salt and pepper,  especially if using fresh vegetables.
  2. While the veggies are roasting, boil the water and then place the lasagna noodles in until al dente. Strain out the hot water and run cool water over it for 20 seconds or so until you can handle the noodles. Drain the water and distribute 1 tablespoon of olive oil among the noodles so they don’t stick together
  3. While the noodles were cooking, I made the mixture by combining the ricotta cheese, 2 cups cheese, 1 egg, parsley, and oregano in a bowl. Stir all together until well combined.
    Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe- making the ricotta mixture with ricotta and parsley and oregano, vegetarian Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe- adding the 2 cups of cheese to the ricotta and parsley/oregano mixture, vegetarian
  4. Spray the 13×9 baking dish with cooking spray. Line bottom with a little bit of the marinara sauce so that nothing will be sticking to it- this might be about 1/2 to 3/4 cup. I admit I used two baking dishes, so I did this twice to lay out 6 Noodle rolls on each.
  5. Lay out a work space- I did this with wax paper. Lay the lasagna noodles flat on this surface. Take 2 1/2 tablespoons of the ricotta filling and spread evenly over noodle. Now spread on top of the ricotta some of of the roasted vegetables and then top with 1 tablespoon of the marinara sauce. Carefully loosely roll and place seam side down into the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.
    Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe
  6. Top rolled noodles with remaining sauce- make sure you cover all the lasagna noodle edges so it doesn’t dry out. Sprinkle the 1 teaspoon of red pepper over everything and then top with the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
    Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe
  7. Remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted on the top.
  8. Remove from oven let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Optionally, serve with Parmesan cheese and a grater that your guests can grate what amount they desire!

This was a great potluck dish to make for one of our Game of Thrones nights, and is a main dish that gets your vegetables in too! I had the idea to print out the various sigils of the houses, cut them out and put them on toothpicks to perhaps mark each of the various roll-ups, but never did do it but thought it could be a fun extra touch.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe

 

Have you made lasagna in these roll form before? What vegetables would you try?

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A Dinner and Desserts at Urban Farmer

May 9, 2014 by 10 Comments

Did you know that Urban Farmer has spectacular desserts?

I went to dinner specifically because I wanted more desserts. But, let met get to that in a second.

We started dinner with salad, beer, and bourbon aged cocktails. That’s right, did you also know Urban Farmer has a barrel aged cocktail program? Their mixologists are continually creating new recipes using cocktails from their barrel aging program to enhance the flavor and character of the spirits they use for limited edition signature cocktails.

I tried two of the cocktails: the first was the Red Ryder, aged 30 days Belevedere Red, Aperol, Pink Peppercorn, Pomegranate and the other was the Traveled Monkey, aged 30 days Leblon, Chartreuse, Hot Monkey Lime, Peychaud’s. I can’t guarantee these cocktails are still there, but looking at their cocktail options I’m sure there are new up and comers that are rotated into there menu now.
Urban Farmer has a barrel aged cocktail program, where their mixologists are continually barrel aging and creating new limited edition signature cocktails. Urban Farmer restaurant Barrel Aged cocktail in March of Red Ryder, aged 30 days Belevedere Red, Aperol, Pink Peppercorn, Pomegranate Urban Farmer restaurant Barrel Aged cocktail in March of Traveled Monkey, aged 30 days Leblon, Chartreuse, Hot Monkey Lime, Peychaud's

For our entrees, since F is vegetarian he ordered a vegetarian dish they were offering a Roasted Vegetable Fettuccine. Before our dishes arrived, we enjoyed their bread service which includes cornbread and butttery soft Parker Rolls. So, it is safe to bring a vegetarian here to this steak restaurant, don’t worry! We also ordered two vegetable sides, roasted foraged mushrooms with crispy shallot and creamed spinach gratin.
Urban Farmer- bread service includes cornbread and Parker Rolls Urban Farmer - vegetarian pasta side Urban Farmer - sides of roasted foraged mushrooms with crispy shallot and creamed spinach gratin

Meanwhile, I decided to try something besides the usual steaks (which I have covered before in a previous post on a steak dinner with my visiting brother) and tried out the and bone in Tails & Trotters pork loin with kumquats, bourbon glaze, spiced pecans. Urban Farmer may be known as a steakhouse, but steaks are definitely not the only meat they excel at creating for your dinner table.
Urban Farmer - sides of roasted foraged mushrooms with crispy shallot and creamed spinach gratin and bone in Tails & Trotters pork loin with kumquats, bourbon glaze, spiced pecan Urban Farmer bone in Tails & Trotters pork loin with kumquats, bourbon glaze, spiced pecan

As excellent as the drinks and entrees were though, I was still pretty stoked about dessert. I had no idea about the exquisite desserts here until I had visited during a Food Crawl (recapped previously – and where I had a few of the desserts already on the menu), and I really wanted to return in order to try more on the menu.

The Urban Farmer Dessert menu (if you can hold off on loading up on all proteins and veggie sides, which is what has always happened to me until I went in specifically with the goal of having dessert) offers 11 options of small desserts, as well as almost a half dozen regular size desserts, to select from. you can choose 1 or up to 3 of the desserts at 1 for $6 or 3 for $15.

For the dessert sampler, we picked out 3 since it really means you get a third for just a few dollars more (and was my rationale for making F, a vegetarian, come to a steak restaurant- and is also why I decided against steak since I thought it was too cruel to be cutting into medium rare meat that might bleed before him). I had tried a few of the desserts at the Food Crawl, so here we opted for new things I hadn’t had a chance to try, such as the Condensed Coconut Ice Cream as a palate cleanser, Chunky Chester Sundae with malted banana ice cream, brownie, almond which was both our favorite of the 3 samplers with its great malted banana flavor (he thought the almond distracted from the malted banana, I liked it a lot because of the texture it added) and Truffle Hunter (chocolates truffles ready to be “harvested” from the soil of cookie crumbs, a super cool plating)
3 for $15 desserts at Urban Farmer - from a choice of 11 options- here we selected Condensed Coconut Ice Cream, Chunky Chester Sundae with malted banana ice cream, brownie, almond and Truffle Hunter (chocolates truffles ready to be Urban Farmer dessert of Truffle Hunter (chocolates truffles ready to be

And then I got one of the whole desserts not from the sampler section all to myself- something I had been forced to share during the Food Crawl but wanted all to myself this time, the dessert from Carrie’s Cupboard of Butterscotch Sundae with warm brown butter blondie, cherries, praline and toffee chip ice cream
Urban Farmer - a dessert from Carrie's Cupboard of Butterscotch Sundae with warm brown butter blondie, cherries, praline and toffee chip ice cream Urban Farmer - a dessert from Carrie's Cupboard of Butterscotch Sundae with warm brown butter blondie, cherries, praline and toffee chip ice cream

I would definitely recommend Urban Farmer after a movie or show downtown, or as your second stop for whatever reason, for a little dessert sampler! Have you had the desserts or barrel aged cocktails at Urban Farmer before. what did you like and what do you think you would order from the Urban Farmer Dessert Menu?

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Lardo and Mi Mere Mole Chefwich

May 7, 2014 by 2 Comments

This month, until May 15, the Lardo and Mi Mero Mole Chefwich collabration with Nick Zukin is to benefit Hacienda CDC. Hacienda CDC is a Latino Community Development Corporation that strengthens families by providing affordable housing, homeownership support, economic advancement and educational opportunities.

The chefwich is a Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce.
May 2014 Lardo Chefwich with Mi Mere Mole, Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce

The Mi Mere Mole Chefwich is just smothered in that red chili sauce, so make sure you have a big beverage with you (like the grapefruit margarita I did) in order to help calm your tastebuds down. Don’t worry about it making the sandwich soggy though- it all held up, with the outside grilled side remaining crunchy, just like a torta ahogado should even though it is drowning in sauce.

May 2014 Lardo Chefwich with Mi Mere Mole, Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce Lardo's Grapefruit Margarita

If you are sensitive to spicyness you might want to ask them to take it a little easier on the red chili sauce- but make sure you still get some, it’s fireworks in your mouth!

Also, make sure you have lots of napkins. I think I used 6 myself.
May 2014 Lardo Chefwich with Mi Mere Mole, Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce

It’s a huge sandwich- just compare it to the silverware there on the platter!
May 2014 Lardo Chefwich with Mi Mere Mole, Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce

In addition, if you buy this chefwich, Mi Mere Mole is stepping it up to encourage you to support Hacienda by offering a deal that if you visit Mi Mere Mole in Chinatown or on SE Division, show a receipt or tweet or share a picture with/to Mi Mero Mole proving you’ve eaten the Lardo Chefwich, and receive a free Mi Mero Mole taco!

May 2014 Lardo Chefwich with Mi Mere Mole, Portland Ahogado that includes Pork belly, potato, re-fried beans, egg, red onion, red chile sauce

Keep in mind you can get this chefwich at any of the THREE Lardo locations:

  1. West Side at 1205 SW Washington
  2. East side at 1212 SE Hawthorne
  3. North Portland location at 4090 N Williams

You can visit Mi Mero Mole at their TWO locations:

  1. Chinatown (open for lunch currently only) at 32 NW 5th Ave
  2. Division location at 5026 SE Division St

The Mi Mere Mole Chefwich is only available at Lardo locations until May 15, so hurry to benefit Hacienda and your tastebuds!

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