Yard House tags every keg with a bar code, which gets scanned once a week to ensure the beer freshness. Anytime you hear of a restaurant with a massive number of taps, the first thought is about the beer staying fresh. The tour of their keg storage was impressive. Oddly enough, my three favorite dishes were the spicy bánh mi sandwich with papaya relish and jalapeños, the porcini crusted halibut, and the lamb burger not far behind.
I must admit to being pleasantly surprised at the taste and quality of the food, which I did not expect. Dishes ranged from the copyrighted “Vampire” taco, bánh mì, brussels sprouts with ripped potatoes, mac and cheese with truffle oil, lamb burger, halibut, and then desert. I started the evening with one of their specialty cocktails, the Gin & Ginger, made with Hendrick’s Gin and just the right amount of ginger, to give the drink some spice.Ĭarlito Jocsom, corporate executive chef and curator of the Yard House’s national menu, was on hand to share some of his favorite dishes the restaurant creates. Surprisingly, Yard House was more excited to share their dinner menu and sample cocktails with the group, since everybody at the table was pretty familiar with the beers on draft. Carlito Jocsom, Yard House corporate executive chef They were very interested in getting to know the Portland customer and culture on a deeper level, and had just as many questions for us as we did them, which I appreciated. One of the most notable accommodations for their Portland location is the fact that 42 of their 130 taps are dedicated to local, craft beer, which is far more than any of their other Yard House locations. I chimed in that I liked the look, which is pretty typical for Portland, and that started a conversation of how a chain has to be adaptable to fit into a city like Portland. As we sat down, Cody and another Yard House representative were debating the look of the purposeful mismatching of chairs in their otherwise sleek metropolitan style.
Greeted by Cody Getz, general manager, we were able to chat and get up to speed on how things have been progressing since their opening in May. Yard House Portland opened back in May 2014, their 54th restaurant of 56 nationwide, located downtown at Pioneer Place. Part of the reason I’ve never been, is due to the fact that I’m a typical Portlander, more interested in quirky local spaces to that of a national chain. On behalf of Brewpublic, I was able to experience Yard House for the first time this week for a media dinner and beer pairing.
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