- Ladies and gentlemen,
it is a beautiful day in South Philly,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and we are heading to one of
South Philly's most beloved iconic institutions:
John's Roast Pork.
For 87 years this place has been serving up incredibly
juicy delicious roast pork sandwiches as well as the
Philadelphia Cheese Steak which is probably the
most family sandwich to come out of this area.
We're standing on what was traditionally a former
industrial strip close to the docks.
Home to a lot of truckers,
a lot of working class people that just come in for a quick
lunch but now it's an incredibly diverse area.
A lot of people coming in enjoying these delicious
roast pork sandwiches.
So, let's see what people have been talking about
for the past almost 90 years.
- My grandfather when he emigrated here in 1918
with literally the clothes on his back and a recipe
for roast pork and a recipe for meatballs, you know,
he came here and he figured he'd do what he knew best so
he became one of the first caterers in Philadelphia.
In the old days they would have a small wedding and have
the reception at the house and he would bring his equipment.
And he was running a wooden shack here on the ground
we're standing on.
We've grown over the years but we still want to try to keep
that family mom and pop feel to it, which I think we do.
- [Lucas] It wasn't always as popular as it was.
- No, we literally had the same 50-60 customers every day.
They'd come and get their coffee in the morning,
a small breakfast sandwich, a pork sandwich.
You know, I didn't even have to take their orders.
They'd walk in the door and I knew what they wanted.
Ever since the article in 2001 came out with these four
high school kids that they made it their senior project
to find the quote-unquote ultimate cheese steak and we
didn't know they were running it with the food critic with
the Inquirer who was very prestigious guy Craig LaBan.
I was shocked because again, we didn't know that this was
for print and they were weighing the sandwiches.
They were measuring them.
- [Lucas] Pulling them apart.
- Yeah, yeah.
- [Lucas] Was that like a turning point as far as--
- It was absolutely the turning point.
Because we had a line out the door for a month or two.
- [Lucas] Wow.
- So many times now we get people they come right from
the airport, we're the first stop.
We have the Liberty Bell,
Independence Hall and they come here first.
It's mind boggling.
It was August 11th,
the article came out so it was in the middle of summer time.
The first Friday, guy came in, guy passes out in line.
Right?
In the building and I'm like making cheese steaks and
they're wheeling him out.
He regained consciousness but he's like,
I want my cheese steak.
So, I said, dude, you're dying like.
(Lucas laughs)
So, what happened,
that was before we were open on Saturdays.
The following Monday he was my first customer at
7:00 o'clock in the morning.
- He went to the emergency room and he came right back.
- I've had almost every sandwich in this place
and everything's just phenomenal.
- [Lucas] Oh you have?
- I've been coming here for about 5-6 years at least
to this spot.
Whenever I'm in town I make sure to come to John's.
- We're in South Philly, there's a lot of options.
- Yes. - But you find you come here?
- Right, you just can't get that top level cheese steak
and roast pork usually at the same place.
You're usually going, one place has a good cheese steak,
one place has a good roast pork.
This place has good everything.
Top notch quality.
They have some of the best bread in the city.
Their pork has great flavor.
It's quick, they know what they're doing.
Even if there's a line out the door,
they move you right through here.
They just do everything the right way here.
You can tell everything's made properly and made with care.
- I understand you're a big Patriots fan is that?
- Oh, absolutely.
Woo hoo, no.
- No, Eagle's fan I would assume.
- Absolutely, I used to be a season ticket holder
for nine years.
- All right, what is it about this place that you think
is particularly good?
- There's something about the seasoning,
it's not like hit you in the face kind of seasoning.
It's subtle but it's just so in depth and the pork is just
so, you know, they cook them, then they let them sit.
And then they slice them the next day
and put it back in the juice.
And so, it doesn't get dried out.
It doesn't break down.
It's just cooked perfectly and holds it and then it's
right on the good seeded roll which is key.
And extra sharp provolone.
It's just those three marrying together is the best.
- Trifecta.
- Let me just get one quick sandwich and one cheese steak.
- And your first name is?
- My name is Lucas.
- Lucas, and you can slide down to the next station
for your pork.
- [Lucas] Thank you very much.
- Thank you very much, very much.
(upbeat music)
- Why don't we roll out this cheese steak.
Look at this beauty.
This is good cheese steak.
They make it all to order.
They don't have a mountain of meat and a mountain of onions
that they are chipping off of throughout the day.
The food's gonna be hot and fresh.
You've got this nice crusty outside that yields
to a chewy center.
The sesame seeds I really love.
You've got these onions that give it that sharpness.
It's like a little sting.
You've got this nice cut of pretty thinly sliced steak.
I mean look, are we getting prime rib in a cheese steak?
No, not necessarily the point.
You want it for that beefy, salty, little charred bits.
You want that kind of goodness, you know,
prepared on that flat top grill.
And then of course the cheese.
The cheese is like the conductor of the symphony.
It's American cheese so it's processed like Cheez Whiz
but it's not quite as plastic-y.
It's just like a nice goopy, saltiness.
This is very good.
That's a great steak.
Let's put this aside.
Let's go to the roast pork.
The typical topping you'll see a roast pork sandwich is
the broccoli rabe or rapini.
That's like a bitter vegetable.
It's like in the bok choy family.
So the spinach is not gonna have quite as much of a
presence in the sandwich and we're gonna see how it goes.
This is the roast pork.
This is it.
Like I'm not here to do a value judgment
but this is the thing to get.
I would take this over a steak any day of the week.
I'll tell you why.
There's just a lot more going on.
Number one, I love a messy sandwich.
I love a soggy sandwich.
And because this has been sitting in so much juice,
and because it's just dripping, dripping,
it gets through that bread and makes it nice and soggy.
You get that contrast.
A regular sandwich bread it slowly becomes thinner
and drippier as you get to the bottom.
And then the bottom is just soaked with that porky juice.
The roast pork as John was saying,
his grandfather's recipe from Southern Italy.
Lots of herbs, lots of spices and then shoved in the oven,
baked for a few hours, sliced, put in it's own jus.
And then it sits there and it just kind of marinates there.
And you've got this nice sharp provolone.
It's so good on a sandwich.
It's a deep, rich, sharp, cheese flavor that has so much
more character than just a mild American cheese.
It's just such a strong funky pungent powerful cheese
that I really really like in this.
And then the spinach.
Spinach is great.
It's a different animal.
I like rapini a lot because it's nice to have sort of a
powerful, bitter vegetable.
Especially when you have something really salty and fatty.
I'm gonna say spinach: more of a team player.
Doesn't want to stand out.
A little bit of a wallflower.
Spinach is just gonna lay back.
Just do it's thing.
So it's a nice compliment.
This sandwich as a whole, super good.
The cheese steak is the icon in Philly.
Especially in South Philly.
I don't see that ever changing.
But the roast pork is a better sandwich.
I'm just gonna put it out there.
It's a superior sandwich in just taste and construct
and how all the flavors bounce together.
And obviously here at John's they're proud of both
sandwiches which I totally understand.
But it is called at the end of the day,
John's Roast Pork and I think that's for a good reason.
Ladies and gentlemen I hope you really enjoyed this
episode of Dining on a Dime from John's Roast Pork
in South Philly, Philadelphia Pennsylvania.
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