Dining Out, Dinner, East Village, Lunch, ManhattanKerry Alaric CheeseboroMay 04, 2009beans, burnt, burnt ends, chicory, crispy, East Village, ends, greens, ham, herb, herbs, Italian, Lower East Side, porchetta, pork, potatoes, roasted, sandwich, seasoned, skinComment

Happy PorkDay To Me

[mappress]

TODAY IS MY birthday, so of course I was going to treat myself to a day of happy—if not fine—dining. One of the first of the "new guard" of the foodie renaissance of Manhattan's Lower East Side/East Village (along with Caracas Arepa Bar and Black Iron Burger) is the well-reviewed and well-received tiny gem of pork mecca known as Porchetta, single-mindedly serving slow-roasted, delicately-seasoned Italian pork (in platter or sandwich form) with a just a handful of sides.

A quick M15 trip down 2nd Avenue found me traveling east on 7th street early on an overcast afternoon, down tony streets to a modest but pretty storefront, which housed a simple yet homey interior, barely a full room, with seating for no more than 4 people, and standing room for maybe twice that.

With a place tis small, despite the decor, you can't help but to very quickly devote all of your attention to the very appetizing "shrine" of pork on display.

A quick scan of the menu keeps the dining options conveniently minimal.

Pork fan that I have always been, I ordered the Porchetta platter, with a side a greens and beans.

Pork's universal appeal has always been in its unique collection of a variety of taste properties. Salty in parts, fatty, chewy, crispy, sweet. juicy, tender, meaty, etc.; the porchetta I was enjoying exemplified all of these traits, and winningly so. Moist, delicate strips of aromatic pork were complimented by the candy-like crunch of the crackling, tastefully-seasoned skin with almost every bite. Savory garlic-dressed chicory greens and just firm cooked beans rounded out the already full-bodied meal.

I was full, but was curious enough about the potatoes with burnt ends that I had to order that side dish as well.

Boy, was I glad I did. Large, skin-on cubes of airy potatoes with crispy exteriors got an extra boost texturally from the intensified crunch, and pork flavor(s), of the burnt ends. I really didn't want to finish this whole dish, my stomach already at capacity, but my tongue and mouth couldn't stop.

This was a great start to a great birthday, and, if you can't tell be now (having finally posted this a year after I first wrote this post), a great start to this whole PHUDE-nyc blog!

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.

Kerry Alaric Cheeseboro