Ned Ludd

Last night we had one of the best meals we have had in a long time. Our friends Jenny and Al Campbell suggested we try Ned Ludd, for our "quarterly" dinner together. It was the first time for all of us, despite the restaurant being almost a year old. Ned Ludd was started by Jason French & Ben Meyer two veterans of the Portland restaurant scene. The building used to be a pizza restaurant, so they inherited a great brick oven that they use to prepare some of their best dishes.

The menu is divided up into forebits, or appetizers, of which the house pickle plate and charcuterie board were excellent. Kaltbits or cold bites, which are the salads and such, I can highly recommend the heirloom tomato salad, with cucumbers and an excellent spicy sauce. This will not be in season much longer, so hurry if you are interested in that. Which brings up a point very much worth mentioning, all the food is seasonal, sustainably grown here in the Portland area. Next we moved on to the warmbits, from which we enjoyed the summer squash, the meat pie! (that's right it has a ! at the end of it that is well deserved) and the mac and cheese or elbows 'n' mornay as they call it. Of all the food we got, the mac and cheese was the only mediocre thing, but as Al said, it's still mac and cheese. As entrees, we choose two of the "plats" or larger plates. The ruby trout was highly recommended and lived up to its billing, but the smoked hen breast with chantrell mushrooms was no slouch. To close it all off, we had the wood fired s'mores from the rearbits or desert menu. While not my favorite dessert, they were a fun way to close out a great meal.

I can't say enough about the food and the service, everything was excellent and the prices were also very reasonable. As a bonus, we chatted with the chefs when they finally slowed down in the kitchen. We were all invited back for fresh ground hamburgers on the outdoor BBQ Thu-Mon from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. that sounds like a can't miss.

Serving Dinner: Thursday through Monday starting at 5pm. Serving Lunch: Ned Ludd Porch serves grilled and applewood smoked items Thurs-Mon, 11-7.

Ned Ludd

3925 NE Martin Luther King Jr Blvd.
Portland, OR 97212

503 288 6900

nedludd.com