About Us

We are four friends that have known each other since college. We enjoy going out in Portland for drinks in the afternoon and thought we would document our findings on the web for others to use.



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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Slab


https://twitter.com/SlabPortland

Like the rest of you, we have been waiting for months for Slab to open.  Our first visit was on a Saturday morning just after they opened to the public.  The inside is smaller than I had expected.  I would estimate that the bar has 15 stools and tables seat another 25?  The outdoor space is beautiful (see below).  There are seven, twenty foot long benches and tables.  I can see myself wasting several hours there eating and drinking.  In the corner is a stage where they plan to have live bands on a regular basis. 

The restaurants tag line is "Sicilian Street Food".  Perfect line to go with the Sicilian pizza and co-owner Steve Lanzalotta.  Lets talk about the menu and what we tried.  We started with the cole slaw.  An often overlooked item.  I always try restaurants cole slaw because a good slaw says a lot about the owners concern for good food. Some use it to fill an empty space on the plate  The slaw consisted of cabbage, fennel, red onion and whole basil leaves.  We tried the creamy curry orange cumin dressing.  The taste was light and refreshing.  There were large crystals of salt in the slaw which was wonderful to find.  Recommended!  They also have a sweet-tangy lime anise vinaigrette.

We ordered the half slab (4 pieces). Each piece of pizza is 6x9.  Yes, I measured it.  It was out of this world good.  We skipped the desert menu because we were so full. They also offer hand slabs (single piece) and full slabs (8 pieces).  There is still Luna Bread! They are stuffing things like braised beef and pork meatballs in luna. There are a few vegetarian items on the menu as well. The "shoes and gravy" sounds good.  This is Luna with sauce and a chunk of aged provolone.

The bar menu is also Sicilian.  Of course they have a Prosecco plus a rose, three whites and three reds (all from Sicily).  The beer menu is an interesting combination of high end beers (Sierra Nevada, De Struise), specially produced beers by some of our best local brewers (Banded Horn, Rising Tide, Oxbox, Bunker, etc.) and common beers like Miller High Life.  Both times we visited we had the coSLABoration by Rising Tide.

The second time we visited it was a Thursday evening.  This time we ordered two hand slabs.  We were surprised how fast the food arrived only to find that the pizza had been reheated.  It was a little dry and not as good as the first time. I would have preferred to have the pizza room temperature versus heated and dried out.  It was good just not like the first time. This time we had room for dessert.  We split the ice cream cone cannoli. It was really big and fresh.  Not too sweet.  The good news is that we now have a local source for GOOD cannolies and no longer need to go to Mike's Pastries in the North End.

They proudly claim themselves as a biodegradable and recycle restaurant.   There are no dishes.  The pizza is severed on paper. The utensils are wooden forks and knives.  Yes, they are easy to break but your eating light and fluffy bread dough so they are appropriate for the menu items.

The staff is very friendly and as excited as we were that the restaurant is open.  The Portland Public Market parking garage is right next door.  We did not park there but the location of the garage should be helpful in bad weather. 

Bottom line, we loved it and glad its open. 




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view of the outdoor eating area

the half slab







Our ratings scale
Atmosphere: 4
Staff: 4
Drinks: 4
Mount Gay rum: Yes
Food: 5
Parking: 4