Another Porchetta Review (and a dessert suggestion)

Interior of Porchetta…sort of

Probably you’ve read enough food blog posts about Porchetta that your sick about reading it. Well, I’m one of those pesky bloggers who would jump ship to try something relatively new. I’m not saying I’m trying everything new for the sake of being “hip” but more of the idea of loving to get my hands on an awesome sandwich. What made me travel all the way down to East Village from the Upper East Side was for the love of pooorrk. Don’t you know I love pork fat (or any animal fat)?

Last week I’ve taken the downtown 6 train and waddled my way over toward First Avenue to Porchetta. Entering upon the minimalist interior of mostly white and blue-tiled walls with an intriguing version of the first aid choking victim poster, and blonde wood bar as counter seating with matching stools. But the centerpiece is when you glance at the glassed-stainless steel oven, encasing the large hunk of porchetta.

Mmmm…I would eat the whole thing

Glancing upon the short menu of a porchetta sandwich ($9), a porchetta platter ($12) with a side of beans and greens sans the roll, a few sides a la carte, and biscotti for dessert. I’ve asked for the crispy skin potatoes but they didn’t have any available since they haven’t gotten their shipment of potatoes. Pooh. So, I’ve just ordered their porchetta sandwich (like everyone else in the NYC food blogosphere is doing).

Pork and cracklin’

Coughing up $9.75 (including tax) for a sandwich like this, I had some expectations of greatness…and thinking of getting a slightly bigger portion. I do like the crunchy crust of the Sullivan St. ciabatta roll but it sort of taken over the pork’s texture rather than balancing it. The pork itself was tender, moist with touches of crunchy cracklings but it’s unevenly flavored – some parts were nicely seasoned and a punch of garlic while other parts of the sandwich needed some salt. I can’t judge a lot from a place that opened a few days but at least I could say “I tried it.”

But when you do have the urge to have dessert and coffee to cap off your meal, you can head over to Abraço and get their addictive cured black olive cookie and robust iced coffee.

Iced Coffee and Cured Olive Cookie

Porchetta
110 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10009 map

Abraço
86 East 7th Street
New York, NY 10003 map