Food Truck Fridays: La Porchetta by Nick Merlino

Food Truck Fridays is a column by sophomore Will Constan documenting all the tasty mobile treats in Philly.

La Porchetta by Nick Merlino

When I turned the corner of 34th and market and saw La Porchetta sitting there waiting for me, I immediately began to smile, and I didn’t stop until well after I finished my meal.

La Porchetta is a relatively simple truck compared to most of the trucks I review, given that their menu consists of meat-based sandwiches that you could find at many other trucks. However, La Porchetta’s offerings are simply on a different level than those of their competitors. Rather than sampling two meals as I usually do, I decided to get what I believe to be their best sandwich along with a side of gravy fries.

Roast Pork. Broccoli Rabe. Provolone.

La Porchetta has the distinction in that it is the only food truck where I get almost exactly the same thing every time I go, because it’s just that good. The soul of this sandwich, as well as the namesake of this truck, is the roast pork. This roast pork is everything I could have ever dreamed it would be. It holds more flavor than I knew roast pork even could. Although it is not quite melt in your mouth, which is a good thing because that means it’s not overly fatty, it falls apart as you chew in the most satisfying way. I could immediately tell that it had been roasted for an absurdly long time.

Another remarkable aspect of this pork is that it is extraordinarily flavorful, yet not overly juicy. This is a huge accomplishment for a food truck given that, for most food trucks, juiciness and flavor go hand-in-hand. The lack of excessive juice makes sandwich easy to eat for mess-prone eaters (like myself).

Finally, this pork has a perfectly even temperature, warm but not too hot. Now that I’ve gotten past fawning over the pork, I can talk about the other two ingredients that make this sandwich extraordinary.
The best way to describe the broccoli rabe is that it is cooked to perfection. Usually broccoli rabe is fibrous and overly bitter, which translates it into being hard to eat and overwhelming to the palate. Not so with this broccoli! It seems to have been cooked for much longer than usual broccoli rabe, eliminating any fibrous quality or excessive bitterness and making it easy to bite through (but definitely not soggy or limp).  It still provides a slight bitter cut to the sandwich, without overwhelming any of the other flavors. It also has a subtle garlic flavor, instead of the powerful garlic flavor that lesser broccoli rabe has.
The provolone is a nice thin deli cut and is in the right proportion so that you get a cheese taste and texture but you don’t feel like you’re just eating a pile of cheese. The only thing that I would change about this sandwich is make the provolone a little sharper so that it could battle with the pork a little more.

Finally the bread on this sandwich is unique in a fantastic way. It is a thick-crusted, medium density Italian roll. The bread itself has a huge amount of flavor, so much that I would be perfectly satisfied to eat it on its own. In terms of eating experience, the bread holds together nicely and does not get overly soggy like other food trucks’ breads. If you’re not convinced that you should get this sandwich, then I don’t know what I can do for you.

Gravy Fries
I am usually a pretty opinionated person, but I genuinely do not know whether I like the gravy or the fries more. The gravy is smooth and rich, with that classic gravy taste that we all know and love. This gravy is relatively light, so it does not overwhelm the eater or compromise the structure of the fries. I was also pleasantly surprised by the subtle cheese flavor in the gravy. Honestly I do not think I could ask for more in the gravy department. Not only is the gravy delicious, but the fries it is slathered over are some of the most flavorful fries I have ever gotten from of a food truck. Most food trucks create flavor in their fries through aggressive seasoning. At La Porchetta, the potato used for the fries is just genuinely flavorful. The fries could be a little crispier, but given the flood of gravy that besieges them, that would probably be challenging to accomplish. Although these fries are a total winner in my book, I would recommend splitting them with a friend unless you’re feeling ambitious.

La Porchetta is a unique food truck.  Many food trucks have excellent food because they have interesting combinations of ingredients. La Porchetta is different because they do a great job of choosing, preparing and cooking the few ingredients that go into each of their dishes. The effort and expertise that the team behind La Porchetta puts into their food is truly admirable and deserves your appreciation. One word of advice, these sandwiches are large and you will want to finish the whole thing, so arrive at La Porchetta with an appetite.

-Will Constan