Yelp Talks Up Jersey’s Best Pork Roll Joints
Yelp shot out it’s weekly “The Local Yelp” email to it’s NJ-based members on Wednesday with the subject, “Pork Roll: It’s a Jersey Thing”. They highlighted three of the favorite places in NJ to get your pork roll fix.
Included on the list was Slater’s Deli in Leonardo with 4.5 stars on Yelp, Frank’s Deli in Asbury Park with 4.5 stars, and Fritz’s Deli in New Brunswick, also with 4.5 stars.
It didn’t necessarily claim these three to be the best in NJ but they are definitely among the contenders.
You can check out the Yelp email here.
What would you put as your top pork roll establishments in the Garden State?
Pork Roll Pizza is a Thing!
You’ve probably had a Jersey Burger featuring a slab of pork roll atop your hamburger/cheeseburger but this is the the first sighting (as far as I know) of pork roll pizza. But before you rush to your car and search for directions on your phone, I gotta tell you that (for now) the pizza joint in question is located in San Francisco.
Jersey is a pizza place/restaurant in the SOMA district of San Fran that features plenty of NJ/NY style deliciousness for the east coast transplants and anyone else that wants to sample the delicacies of our fine state.
This article from SF Weekly profiles Jersey and Pork Roll Pizza.
Pork Roll Business is Booming!
It’s never been a better time to be in the pork roll business. Our New Jersey based pork roll businesses are shipping more product, and so they need more employees to churn out that meat.
WPVI in Philadelphia ran a story recently about how Case Pork Roll is handling the uptick in business. Unfortunately, the video is in Flash but check it out anyway.
http://6abc.com/food/nj-pork-roll-company-says-business-is-booming/1119573/
The 2nd Annual Pork Roll Festival is Coming!
Just announced is the 2nd Annual Pork Roll Festival. This year the festivities will be held at Mill Hill Park in Trenton on May 23. Check the official Pork Roll Festival site for the details.
Finally. Our favorite meat gets the festival it deserves!
Pork roll has always had it’s fans but but it doesn’t get celebrated like other foods like bacon or garlic which has festivals, websites and even entire food show episodes devoted to it. Now that’s about to change thanks to Scott Miller. He’s a Trenton guy that decided he’s going to step up and give Trenton’s hometown meat the celebration it truly deserves.
Mark your calendar, folks. May 24, 2014 is going to be the day. The Pork Roll Festival will be held at Trenton Social starting at 10:30 am and will go throughout the day. There will be lots of pork roll themed entertainment of course.
- Start with the pork roll brunch with Bloody Marys.
- The grills will be serving up grilled pork roll sandwiches all day
- Documentary film on pork roll history
- Recipe contest and awards
- Pork roll slider eating contest
- The pork roll bike tour.
It’s gonna be the place to be for anybody that visits this site. That’s for sure.
Get all the details at the Pork Roll Festival website. Or you can check the Facebook page.
See you there!
Pork Roll Gaining a Toehold in Manhattan
Pork roll is a staple of every deli and diner in the State of New Jersey but as son as you cross the bridge or tunnel into NYC, it is very hard to find. Most New Yorkers have never even heard of it. That is slowly beginning to change thanks to a Jersey Mike’s. They recently opened their first Manhattan location on Maiden Lane in lower Manhattan.
Of course, the menu includes the classic pork roll, egg and cheese. Check out a New Yorker’s experience with this strange, foreign meat at Midtown Lunch
Business Insider Gets It Right with U.S. Sandwich Map
I don’t often refer to Business Insider for their insight into regional comfort foods but they did produce a pretty sweet map and infographic in honor of National Sandwich Day which was November 3 (It was quite a celebration in my household). In it, they correctly decided that “Jersey Breakfast Sandwich with Taylor Ham” was the sandwich that best represented the great State of New Jersey.
It’s worth checking out the lesser-known sandwich from exotic ‘Mercan locales such as North Dakota where they love their Smørbrød. And you can’t leave Mississippi before you suck down one of them Pig Ear sandwiches!
Check it out here: The Best Sandwich From Every State
Pork Roll Lovers Don’t Like Deadspin’s Choice of NJ Food
A few weeks ago, Deadspin came up with the Great American Menu map. In it, each state was given it’s signature food dish. Illinois has it’s deep dish pizza. It was gumbo in Louisiana. So, the obvious choice for NJ is pork roll/Taylor Ham, right? Wrong. The food that best represents New Jersey, according to Deadspin, is salt water taffy.
Obviously, this article was not not very well researched and NJ meat fans are pissed. Nothing against salt water taffy. I go to Fralinger’s whenever I’m in Atlantic City. However, it is really just something you may eat while you’re in Atlantic City or maybe a few other shore towns. Pork roll is truly the food for all of NJ. From the top of Sussex County down to Cape May, pork roll or Taylor Ham is a what we are stuffing our faces with before work.
Over on NJ.com, check out Readers in N.J. ‘extremely angry’ with salt water taffy food representation. You can read all about the fuss.
Want Some Trenton on That Burger?
Pork roll is not just for breakfast! You can have your pork roll, egg and cheese in the AM and add a slab to your burger at lunch! The Jersey Burger, the Trenton Burger, the Pork Roll Burger, whatever you call it, it’s a great way to increase your daily pork roll intake.
Red Bank Green profiles Stew Goldstein at Monmouth Meats. He added the Trenton Burger to the menu recently and he has obviously made a few fans.
You can read it over at Red Bank Green.
The Pork Roll Rachel is in My Belly
A few days ago I posted about a recipe for a Pork Roll Rachel that I saw over at Serious Eats. Well, this morning, I decided that I needed to go ahead and fire up the pork roll skillet and build me a rachel.
The Pork Roll Rachel
I started out by building my pork roll pac man army.
Pork Roll Pac Men
After your pork roll has been cooked, put them aside for a moment while you prepare the rye bread. Butter the outsides of your bread, grilled cheese style. On the inside, add a slice of swiss, then add some Thousand Island dressing. Then you can re-introduce your pork roll by piling it on to your sandwich. On top of that, add a pile of cole slaw.
Rye bread stacked with Thousand Island dressing, Swiss cheese, pork roll (of course), and cole slaw…
Another slice of swiss on top and finish it off with the other slice of rye.
Keep the heat low and let it heat up evenly and slowly.
Tony likes it!
Pork Roll Shirts Make You Look Sexy!
Click to See More!
