Chris Thompson

“Our Reuben is consistently a top, if not the top, performer,” says Chris Thompson, Executive Chef of Lardon, a casual concept specializing in artisanal meats and cheeses. How did Thompson and his team turn an iconic sandwich with universal familiarity into a must-order menu item? By upgrading each and every ingredient in the build.

The sandwich starts with a local, caraway-studded marble rye, griddled for texture before getting a swipe of the house “fancy sauce,” a mixture of ketchup, Dijon, aïoli and cornichons. An addition of thinly-sliced turmeric pickles and cellar-fermented sauerkraut adds crunch and a tart foil to the richer ingredients, like the nutty Midnight Moon goat Gouda. But the undisputed star is the generous portion of house-butchered beef brisket pastrami encrusted with yellow mustard seeds, crushed coriander, black pepper and sweet paprika, which gets its final flavor finish as it’s smoked over hickory. “When you pass through the doors of Lardon, you know there’s a quality of craftsmanship that goes into each of our meats,” says Thompson. “Our guests have come to expect and appreciate that.”