Restaurant Review: Porchetta & Co.
PORCHETTA & CO.
825 Dundas Street West ~ porchettaco.com Instagram: @porchettaandco ~ Twitter: @PorchettaAndCo Co-Diner: Tim Golem
PORCHETTA! This delicious Italian sandwich is something that everyone needs in their life. It's tempting to pronounce it exactly the way that it looks, but in reality, you've gotta say "por-ketta" so that you sound like you know what you're talking about. This savoury, fatty, and moist boneless pork is roasted on a spit over wood for eight hours and is typically served as a sandwich. And Toronto's Porchetta & Co. is the place to visit if you want to try one. Featured on Anthony Bourdain's Toronto episode of The Layover, named #1 Best Sandwiches by blogTO, and listed at #17 on Toronto Life's Toronto’s 25 Best Sandwiches Right Now 2019... This place means business and everyone knows it. I was excited to visit on a Saturday evening for the first time. Now with four different locations in the city, we stopped in at the original one in Trinity Bellwoods. It's a tiny shop with a very awesome pig-themed graffiti mural on the wall outside. Inside, you'll mostly just find a counter, however there are some limited stools to pop a squat on if you should favour eating in (which I always do). The house specialty is porchetta, of course, but they are also quite known for their fried chicken sandwiches (which I must try at a later visit). They've been around since 2010 and aren't going anywhere. The small and simple space is clean with white subway tile, uses a chalkboard to post specials, all while golden-brown pork roasts rest behind the glass. The staff is extremely friendly and personable, super happy to answer questions and make sure that the food tastes great. The main thing to eat is sandwiches, clearly, but they do offer other things too. Like salads, plates of things that aren't in sandwich form, and a whole bunch of sides. We placed our order, perched upon some stools, and in no time at all, we were feasting. For my first-ever visit, my sandwich choice was simple; the "House Special" ($9.95).
Porchetta sandwich with truffle sauce, Parmesan, mustard, hot sauce.
You get a quarter pound of meat with crackling on a toasted bun. The crackling is key - it's what makes a porchetta sandwich what it is, in my opinion. At Porchetta & Co. they marinate their pork shoulder in a blend of fresh herbs, garlic and extra virgin olive oil. Then they wrap the shoulder in prosciutto and then wrap it again in cured skin-on pork belly. They roast the whole thing, rest it, and carve it per order. They take extra care with the skin (crackling) by double baking it to ensure an even and consistent crunchy texture. They've got the entire process figured out down to the smallest details and it shows in the quality of their product. I loved it. The meat was tender, juicy and delicious. Porchetta produces fatty cuts, which aren't usually my jam, but in this case the cook on the meat and the flavours were so good that the more fatty pieces bothered me less than usual. The crackling was incredibly good, providing the most insane crunch and blasts of salty goodness. Their bun is also something of note, very fresh with a crusty outside and a warm chewy inside. And like, there's truffle sauce and cheese on this thing too. What more could you ask for? The flavours are massive and the meat is everything that it's cracked up to be. Crackling-ed up to be. Definitely one of the must-do sandwiches in this city. But let's just talk about the other sandos for one quick sec. There are four other sandwich situations on the menu and usually one more on special. And they sound really, really good too. Both the O.G. Fried Chicken and the Nashville Hot Chicken sandwiches are items that need to end up in my mouth at some point. There are sides. Nine of them! You should definitely venture into the sides category if you want to round out your meal and eat more than just a sandwich. You can get fries, salads, or even something a bit more interesting like baked beans or arancini. Their P&Co Poutine sounds really good and incorporates their porchetta - the only reason that we didn't order it was because we were already getting the sandwiches and porchetta on top of porchetta seemed like a bit much. Instead we opted for the Fries Supreme ($6.45).
Are you like me where the best thing to order at Taco Bell is the fries supreme? Well now you don't even need to go there anymore because Porchetta & Co. is making it exactly the same except better. Warm cheese sauce? Yes. Diced tomatoes? Yes. Chives? Yes. Sour cream? Yes. The only thing that's missing is the ground beef and you don't need that shit anyway. The fries were very good and cooked to a perfect golden crispiness. I especially loved the cheese sauce which was most certainly Velveeta (liquid gold). I was pleased on all levels.
They're doing some really good stuff at Porchetta & Co. and I'm really looking forward to visiting again and trying more of their delicious food. You want this. I know that I do.