So close, yet so far. I live less than three hours from Philadelphia. I should be swimming in roast-pork sandwiches, but I’ve been challenged to find anything like the Tommy Dinic’s Roast Pork at Reading Terminal Market in NoVA. I don’t mind an occasional trip, but I’m bemused that a version of Philly’s best sandwich (sorry, cheesesteak lovers) is so hard to find.
Fortunately, we’re not entirely without pork and provolone. This week, I got in line at The Sandwich Shop in Vienna for their iteration. I was lucky enough to score an outdoor table during the lunch rush and settle in with my Dr. Brown’s diet black-cherry soda. As I’ve said before, the presence of the soda brand usually augurs good things, and The Sandwich Shop is no exception.
The roasted pork and broccolini sandwich at The Sandwich Shop is not a carbon copy of the one at Dinic’s. The sturdy roll into which ingredients are piled isn’t coated in sesame seeds. The pork is presented as pulled chunks of shoulder, not slices. But it is the legend’s near-equal in terms of simple delectability. The juicy meat pales in importance when it’s laid beside garlicky, chile-flecked broccolini. This pork lover would have been happy with just the al dente greens.
The folks at The Sandwich Shop know they’ve got a good thing going; there’s a vegetarian version of the sandwich with broccolini and sundried tomatoes. In both cases, the whole thing is blanketed in a layer of melted provolone that lends a creamy, slightly funky edge. A swipe of Dijonnaise contributes a refreshing acidity not present in the Dinic’s sandwich. I may still go to Reading Terminal Market for a taste of the original sometimes, but it turns out, I’m closer than I thought to sandwich satisfaction.// 132 Church St. NW, Vienna
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