When people tell you they’ve had a life-altering sandwich, you should believe them. You should also hurry up and try it yourself, because you never know how long it’s going to last.
This is New York. 90-year-old bakeries close down because they can’t meet the $5,500 monthly rent for a 450 sq foot storefront; Fantastic restaurants get busy, slide downhill and get closed by the Health Department; And incredibly friendly deli owners known for making some of the best sandwiches in the city get arrested for moonlighting as loan sharks.
So it’s with some urgency that I’d like to thank Zito’s of Brooklyn for giving me one of the top 12 sandwich eating experiences of my natural-born life. They’re a fairly recent addition to Park Slope, Brooklyn, they come free of baggage, and they make at least one unforgettable sandwich.
Zito’s Porchetta Sandwich isn’t on the their regular menu, and it isn’t available all the time. When it is, it takes the form of decadent, buttery slabs of grilled pork loin, wrapped in pork belly and then covered in a liberal dose of pepperonata and some of the best broccoli rabe I’ve had recently. It’s a fantastic sandwich, sloppy and well-balanced at the same time. You could make two meals out of it if you wanted to, although I eviscerated mine in mere minutes with a draft of Sixpoint Bengali Tiger IPA.
The porchetta has heat, but not too much, and the cooks at Zito’s use a cut of pork loin that’s somehow hearty and delicate at once. They only carry enough of it to make 50-100 sandwiches each week, but I had no problem getting a great one past 8 o’clock on a Saturday night. At $11, it costs a bit more than any sandwich I’d usually recommend. But it’s also worth every penny, and easily trumps every other sandwich on their menu.
Make it over to Zito’s storefront on 7th Avenue sometime. You’ll enjoy it. And if you miss it, well hey – remember that New Yorkers are also resilient. While I’d never suggest you wait on trying a potentially life-changing sandwich, it’s only fair to remember that of the previous 3 examples of heart-rending sandwichmaggedon the ultimate outcomes weren’t so bad:
Vesuvio Bakery’s new owners have kept the old storefront, and make fairly decent food; Atlas Cafe only closed temporarily and still has good days as well as bad; and luckily for Williamsburg residents, the people at Graham Ave Meats and Deli are still making unfathomably-good “Godfather” and “Italiano Cubano” sandwiches following owner Mike Virtuoso’s 2011 guilty plea on one count of extortion.
Old habits die hard, I guess. Let’s hope Virtuoso sticks to the sandwiches. They’re affordable, fantastic and (assuming you don’t bring up the recent legal troubles) are always served with a smile.
But let’s also hope that you try one of Zito’s porchetta sandwiches the next time you’re in Park Slope. If you can get one, the taste is a sure thing — and it comes with a clean conscience.