Porchetta
It’s a good time to be a pork-lover in NYC; not only do we have Momofuku Ssam’s famed steamed pork buns and a smattering of good barbecue joints, but now there’s a new shop in the East Village specializing in the traditional Italian dish, porchetta.
Porchetta (pronounced pork-ET-ta) is a boneless hunk of meat and fat, rolled together with rosemary, fennel, and garlic, and slow-roasted in their crisp outer skins. At Porchetta, the meat is sliced and served with greens and beans ($12) or on a ciabatta roll ($9). The minimalist menu also offers sides: chicory salad with garlic dressing ($6), beans ($5) and “crispy potatoes” mixed with odds and ends of crunchy pork skin and savory meat ($5).
The porchetta itself is tender and well-seasoned and the sandwich travels well–it even tastes good at room temperature. But, despite a glowing review in NYmag, I was a little underwhelmed. First of all, in addition to some hard bits of skin, there were good-sized chunks of chewy fat throughout. Perhaps, not being raised on porchetta, I am a bit sensitive to gristle. Second, (agreeing with nycfoodguy on this) $10 doesn’t get you a lot of grub. I noticed that they’d recently switched from puffy ciabatta rolls to flatter bread, which serves the sandwich well. But the portions are small, consist only of bread and meat, and it seems a tad expensive despite the obvious quality of the two ingredients.
The shop was a little claustrophobia-inducing on a Friday night, with seven or eight people jockeying for space on the black-and-white checked floor, waiting ten minutes or so for their orders. During less frantic times it’s a cozy space, with six seats and decor as basic as the menu–a swine stencil on the wall, and a tiny smiling crocheted pig dangling from the ceiling. For vegetarians, there’s a somewhat dry mozzarella sandwich ($7) as well as the beans and greens, but this is really carnivores’ turf.
Aside from a couple of complaints, if you love pork, Prochetta is worth a try. If arriving late, you may want to call ahead since, at least on the night I visited, they were running out of porchetta before closing.
Porchetta 110 East 7th St. between First Avenue and Avenue A
Sun-Thurs 11:30am-10pm, Fri&Sat, 11:30am-11pm
(212) 777-2151
Hey there Snackish,
Thanks for linking to my story on Porchetta. Very cool to find out the rolls have changed. Although I’m sure it had nothing to do with my suggestion to change to a flatter ciabatta, it’s cool to see that I was on the right track. Great review by you and cool site. You should get a link section going so we can exchange.
Looking at your top 5, I see Lassi. I’ve heard about that a lot lately, what should I get there? Nice choice on Caracas as well.
Thanks for reminding me I need a blogroll 🙂 You can’t go wrong at Lassi, but don’t miss the mango lassi and parathas with boondi raita. The sweet potatoes in spinach is also good, even though it’s a strange color. Too bad they don’t have more seating but for takeout it’s perfect.