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John's Roast Pork, John Bucci's Legendary Family Owned Sandwich Shop - Open Since 1930 on E. Snyder Avenue in South Philly


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The roast pork Italiano sandwich is a study in flexibility and democracy. You can get Roberto Donna's fancy Italian chef take on it, with a fancy bread and the pork cut coarsely on the spot off a fresh roast. You can sit in comfy sports bar digs at Tony Luke's and leisurely savage their delicious, moist take on it, along with a good basket of cheese fries.

Or you can go back to its roots and grab a pork Italiano at John's Roast Pork, which means it will be double-wrapped in papered foil and bagged, so you can take it back to your jobsite/dock/shipyard, or sit down at one of the picnic benches out front where, bundled up against the cold, you'll dig into this addictive heap of dripping-wet thinly-sliced pork on a slightly crusty seeded long roll. There are cheese choices, but you need the sharp provolone. There is no broccoli raab, only spinach, but I liked the effect even better. The meat rests soaking in its juices in a quarter pan on one corner of the grill, as do the greens, and they go onto the bread fairly wet. Soggy or not, I couldn't stop myself from hoovering the entire sandwich.

Is it better than Tony Luke's? That's hard to say because they're both really satisfying, but yeah, I don't think I've ever torn into a pork sandwich as ferociously as the one from John's.

Note that Snyder Ave. is currently closed for construction on the block immediately west of John's. You can still get there from the south, but if approaching from the west, you'll need to cut through the shopping center's two parking lots.

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Compare and contrast with John's Roast Pork, where a large Roast Pork Sandwich with onions, peppers, sauteed spinach, and sharp provolone set me back all of $6.50. Scarfed greedily, this was one of the most satisfying sandwiches I've had in a long time. Unlike the vast majority of subs, this one actually needs and benefits from the hoagie roll. The sharp provolone is quite pungent, and as good as it was, it slightly dominated the mild pork, so next time I'm going to either get mild provolone, or add a few squirts of Tabasco, heretic that I am. Everyone needs to make a detour to John's Roast Pork at least once in their life.

Cheers,
Rocks.

I think the balance is better with the sharp provolone if you get broccoli rabe instead of spinach.

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Unless you're driving back to DC on a Sunday (when John's is closed), calling in a carryout order ((215) 463-1951) and eating it on the interstate is a perfect way to cap off your visit. The sheer delight of chowing down on one of these sandwiches makes the first part of the long, arduous drive back go by in a blink. Finding the restaurant is the hard part because of train track negotiation.

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As it's closed on the weekends, I had never been to John's until this recent Philadelphia excursion. But I'm glad I went out of my way to have lunch there. I'm not certain that I like it more than DiNic's (this could be that I like the broccoli rabe more than the spinach) but this is one hell of a sandwich. My friend loved his cheesesteak as well. 

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On a marathon morning a while back, sampled were both John's and George's. Perhaps because in my misspent youth I cooked thousands of cheese steaks, my preferences run to roast pork with broccoli rabe. For that reason, George's, with its counter stools and enticing bain maries of daily specials, did it for me. That said, parking is much better at John's.

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On 8/2/2016 at 1:29 PM, Mark Dedrick said:

As it's closed on the weekends, I had never been to John's until this recent Philadelphia excursion.

I was just there on Saturday. It's only closed on Sundays. Not sure if this changed recently. Four of us split a roast pork and a cheese steak. I think we whiffed on our roast pork ordering because we didn't get the sharp provolone (we got regular provolone) or spinach. I thought the roast pork was OK, but I really enjoyed the cheese steak (American cheese and onions). I'm going to need a do over on that roast pork.

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Took the fam to John's a little over a year ago. They got cheesesteaks (and I think chicken parm). I got the roast pork. Really good but I'm not sure if the sauteed spinach is as good an ingredient as is broccoli rabe. Hitting DiNic's at RTM next weekend so that will be a good comparison since I expect the pork to be comparably excellent.

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