Pennypacker's And Their Porchetta

Months ago, I read about a new restaurant in Somerville's Magoun Square, right down the road from us. It's not the trendiest neighborhood, so it's a little unusual to hear about a new, cool restaurant opening in the area, and I'm really sorry that we dragged our feet before finally paying Pennypacker's a visit.

Pennypacker's, a little sandwich, soup, and salad shop, originated as a food truck and has now expanded into a brick and mortar restaurant. They are most famous for their porchetta, which as shown below is slow-roasted skin-on, cured, and marinated pork belly wrapped around pork shoulder. So while everything on their small, rotating menu sounded tempting, we had to go with the porchetta sandwich along with the Himalayan Red Rice Salad.

The salad was mixed to order, and it was outstanding. I loved the bright lemon vinaigrette tossed with the rice, herbs, peppery arugula, and crisp cucumber and red onion. But the sandwich is what really stole the show. It's rather unassuming on the plate and so simple: crusty bread around a thick slab of porchetta and a good drizzle of salsa verde. The pork is so tender and flavorful, and every now and then you bite into a perfectly crisp piece of pork rind that just puts it over the top.

If you're in the area, I highly recommend that you pay them a visit! I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back!