PDX burgers: Lardo & Davis Street Tavern

last night we decided to check a burger off the list and finally check out Lardo. since we were heading into a movie and didn't want to be over-stuffed we split one burger (double burger, but eeh we tried). i was served on an everything roll (yay!), made with cascade natural beef, porkstrami (i still don't know what this is, but it looked and tasted like bacon and i just know i loved it), cheddar, shredded lettuce, and lardo sauce. the patties were very loosely packed -- i felt like the burgers would be on the verge of falling apart if you manhandled them too much. they just kind of swam around in a sea of delicious burger juice, with a boat of bacony porkstrami and and intensely buttery/creamy combination of cheddar and lardo sauce (whatever that might be) all up on it.

this was one of those burgers that pleasantly surprised me in that, even though i've eaten 12083098023 burgers in my day, it tasted like none of the burgers that i've had before. and i couldn't place why. there was a buttery flavor to the burger i couldn't place (maybe in the sauce? maybe the bun), and other flavors just popping out of the ying yang - even the sesame/poppy seeds were chiming in. it's exactly what i love about burgering - they are SO incredibly simple in theory, but SO hard to pull off well, and can still just knock off your socks with new flavors - even when you're still dealing with the same 5 core ingredients (beef, cheese, bun, lettuce/tomato, sauce). i think i'm still on my Lardo burger high from this! (also - the jalapeno hush puppies with honey butter are a DOPE side) 9/10.

thursday night i hit up Davis Street Tavern, which was not previously on my burger hit list, but should have been. i went in thinking i'd get a tiny app, but after hearing good reco's on the burger just couldn't help myself. aye caramba. i didn't get a pic, but the burger was enormous. served with Tillamook vintage cheddar, pepper bacon, tomato-bacon jam, dijon aioli, and the most delightful skinny little shoestring fries. beef: well seasoned, lots of flavor, super juicy; bun: substantial enough to hold up to the giant drippy burger, fresh baked & soft; toppings - cheese & aioli were creamy & cut so well with the salty seasony beef, the bacon was perfect, BUT the tomato-bacon jam was just distracting. it tasted good at times, but the majority of bites jut had a weird flavor to it that just didn't mesh with everything else. the one & only draw i found to this one - lose the tomato, and you have pretty close to a perfect burger experience. 7/10.