Portland's most decadent sandwiches are coming to Sin City.

Lardo, the food cart-turned-sandwich chain from chef Rick Gencarelli, will bring its griddled mortadella, double cheeseburger and dirty fries to the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas.

"It's exciting," Gencarelli tells The Oregonian/OregonLive. "I'm curious to see what Lardo does outside of Portland. We've only known it in three locations. Two of them did well. And Vegas is just one of those exciting challenges. It's going to be fun."

Other food tenants at the Cosmopolitan include chef Jose Andres' China Poblano, David Chang's Momofuku and an outpost of Los Angeles breakfast sandwich hotspot Eggslut.

"We have total control over the menu, recipes, what people wear, what the look is, and then Rick or our kitchen manager will go down there once a quarter," Huffman says. "If they're not respecting the recipes, we have the right to pull the brand."

"They want our involvement as much as we're willing to give," Gencarelli says. "They want it to be a Lardo."

According to Huffman, Lardo has been approached about opening locations at the Portland International Airport, Los Angeles, Seattle and even Japan. But a lawsuit filed by former partner Ramzy Hattar limited which opportunities they could pursue. That suit was settled in March.

"We got past that lawsuit and that was really the hardest year and a half for me in terms of the Lardo years," Gencarelli says. "This Vegas deal seems like smart growth. Now I'm just excited for where it's going to go."

-- Michael Russell