*** Update: Sadly, both of these places have closed.
A couple of porky sandwiches for a Sunday. I tried to make this a trio, but could never get to Bencotto on a day when they had the layered and rolled swine. I'm hoping to try it in the near future. Still, I did have two nice sandwiches recently.
Ariccia Market:
Well, being named Ariccia, the "home" of porchetta gives it away….you pretty much better have said rolled swine. There's actually a Porchetta festival in the town of about 20,000 every year in September. I had visited the market a couple of times before trying out the porchetta, I like the brand of French Harissa they sell.
Finally, a couple of months back, I had a chance to try the Porchetta Sandwich ($9):
I really enjoyed the balance of the sandwich, the moist pork worked well with the sweetness of the caramelized onions and the acid of the balsamic based sauce. The peppery-bitterness of the arugula really cleared out the richness and the lightly yeasty, almost rustically crackly bread made this a joy to eat. Nothing fancy here, just a combination of ingredients prepared properly, used in perfect context and proportion. Very nice. Consumed at 9 in the morning, it's a heck of a way to start your Sunday, I'll say that much.
Ariccia Italian Market
7441 A Girard Ave
La Jolla, CA 92037
There's one other tidbit about Ariccia you might not know. Ariccia has the distinction of being one of the places whose mention is banned by Chowhound. From what I recalled, this very sandwich was mentioned in a Chowhound post and the owner posted to thank them…and boom, any mention of the the place is removed by the moderators. I know, it's hard to believe….though CH does have a policy – noted here. I think the one thing that bothered me about the whole deal is that there's another restaurant owner, who has replied to posts on Chowhound, using his own name, defending policies, etc….. So he goes totally free while other one gets life in solitary. If you're going to have such severe policies, at least be consistent with them. 'Nuff said. CH has a way of being quite vengeful and condescending….it once called Ed from Yuma "one of those idiots and miscreants" when he questioned why a post was deleted. So I'm wondering what'll happen to me the next time I try to post on CH?
Roseville Cozinha:
About a week after the porchetta from Ariccia, we dropped by Roseville so the Missus could get Her cioppino fix. I hadn't realized that they had a version of porchetta on their menu as well. So of course I had to order it ($10):
In terms of heft and price, this was a nice deal. Even though the classic porchetta sandwich is a panini, I love the way Roseville simply salts, brushes with olive oil, then grills the wonderful breads from Con Pane. This ciabatta is no exception. The addition of fries made this a bit more than I could eat.
I can't say that the sandwich had the same harmonic balance as what Ariccia serves, but it sure did satisfy me.
Sadly, this was off the menu during our last visit….but hopefully they'll have it back on the menu periodically.
Roseville Cozinha
2750 Dewey Rd Suite 104 (Liberty Station)
San Diego, CA 92106
So there you go! Do let me know if you see more porchetta popping up elsewhere….so I can get my weekly dose of swine!
I had a good one from Cochon Butcher (in New Orleans) recently. It was more along the lines of Ariccia’s, with thinly slice porchetta, although the sauce was tangy and a bit spicy, so it was more aioli-esque rather than balsamic.
Man Cochon…..that place has been on my list for a while. Now I need to talk the Missus into a visit to NOLA.
I actually ended up at Herbsaint rather than Cochon for the full-blown meal, but stopped by Cochon Butcher a few times for sandwiches.
no porchetta around these parts at least that I know about, so I am drooling over these 🙂
Last year, I had a porchetta sandwich at the home of an Italian friend; the Easter leftover served on fresh made sesame topped bread was wonderful, but I didn’t take photos. I was told that a comment I made about a certain San Diego restaurant was ‘the most blasphemous thing ever written on Chowhound’. It made me not want to participate as much, since some don’t seem to want opinions that aren’t echoed.
Hi Kat – I’m sure there must be a little wrapped piggy somewhere….. I hope you find it!
Hi Cathy – Yeah, don’t know what’s up with those folks. They seem to have gone off the deep end at times.
Kirk,
With blogs like yours no need go to CH.
LOL “kobi”…….
Try the porchetta di testa when Bobby has it on the menu. It has any even more distinct “porky” flavor
I saw that on the menu TFOJ….I’ll check it out next time, thanks!
FWIW – Bobby recently (well maybe not recently but as of around Dec 2012) changed the pork he was using for the porchetta to a local acorn-fed pig. I felt that this really enhanced the “porky” flavors of the porchetta to the level you enjoyed.
I won’t pretend that Bobby isn’t a friend, but even if I hated the guy I would have to recommend the porchetta.
It really is too bad about the moderation on CH, Ariccia is definitely a spot worth mentioning on a food focused forum
Hi James – That’s good to know….
Hi Roddy – Yeah, well, what can I say about CH?
Butcher is around the corner from Cochon. Same owner. Imh – better & cheaper. It’s a deli (not your average) with table service at night. Don’t miss the pops for desert. Definitely go. Jazzfest lineup is great this year. Excited to try both these sandwiches!
Is it wrong that the phrase ‘acorn fed pig’ makes me want to eat it this minute? Which place is Bobby’s?
It sounds perfectly normal to me Laura! Bobby’s is Ariccia Market.