Il Cane Rosso is just one porchetta purveyor among many.
Photo: Kevin Bond
Forget swine flu. The biggest pig-related fervor to sweep the Bay Area these days is porchetta – that Central Italian, slow-roasted porky pleasure. Having officially usurped belly as the most popular porcine dish, it's being served straight up or sliced into sandwiches all over the city at restaurants such as Bar Bambino, Il Cane Rosso, Ironside, Poggio and Starbelly. (We even saw a mention of a veal breast ‘porchetta’ on new chef Matthew Accarrino's SPQR menu.) Of course, no mention of porchetta would be complete without mentioning hall-of-fame peddler Thomas Odermatt, owner of RoliRoti, who was one of the first to popularize the dish, and serves it on Saturdays and Sundays only at his Napa Oxbow outlet, Rôtisario, and from his mobile rotisserie truck at the Ferry Building’s Farmers’ Market on Saturdays.
– Meesha Halm