Meat and Bread - Porchetta - My Crack

There are a few things popping up on the Vancouver food scene that I like, that I like a lot.
Thin crust Neapolitan style pizza:
Nicle

Bibo

Campagnolo

All excellent.
And then there are the Porchetta sandwiches joints.
Pronto

Meat and Bread

I say bring it on. I think there should be a pizza place and a porchetta joint next to every Starbucks in town.
In fact, let's combine the two - porchetta thin crust pizza, OMG.
I'm going to grab takeout Pizza Margereta from Nicli, walk the block and a half to Meat and Bread, grab a pound of porchetta,  find a doorway in Gastown and dig in. I don't care that the guy next to me is smoking crack or that the doorway smells like piss, I'm having my porchetta pizza, this is my crack, leave me the fuck alone.
Six months from now when you find me in a Gastown gutter weighing 300 pounds caked in pork fat and cloths stained with tomato sauce hallucinating about pork skin, still chasing the high of the very first luscious crackling pork skin in my sandwich, please pick me up, slap me senseless, throw me in a shower and drive me to Jenny Craig.

Making the Sandwich

Yes, the Porchetta at Meat and Bread is that good.
There’s a bunch of other stuff on the menu, but if I were to visit 100 times I still wouldn’t care about them. I’m sure it’s all very good though but at the end of the day how can you compete with porchetta. And also, buy a jar of their homemade mustard, there is nothing like it anywhere, trust me.

Bacon maple syrup ice cream sandwich:

Van Mags best things to eat in Vancouver 2011

Very light on the maple, nice Smokey salty goodness when you come across a a chunk of bacon.

Bacon Maple Ice Cream

It seems another trend is to throw bacon into everything. Not a bad idea generally speaking but in the end I’m not sure if I would order it again, Its ok, perhaps I am more of an ice cream traditionalist.

Brave the crowds pray for a seat and do yourself a favour, grab a porchetta sandwich at Meat and Bread.

In case anyone was counting I wrote porchetta 8 times...9 times.

The Red Wagon Cafe. Mmm pulled pork pancakes.

I hear Deb saying, "Wow, you ate that fast"
I look up from what's left of my pancakes, quickly scan everyone else’s plates, yup they look shamefully untouched and yes I have indeed hoovered my meal.
Slight embarrassment ensues but only for a moment. Screw it, I look down and continue the destruction of the pulled pork buttermilk pancakes.

Ya, this totally sucks! I need another stack.

Pride wins over gluttony. Both are deadly, but then perhaps so are these pancakes. Spicy succulent pulled pork nestled between three soft butter pancakes and then doused in totally awesome Jack Daniels maple syrup. Make sure you have all three on your fork at every bit because together this is a symphony. I bumped things up with a poached egg on top. What can I say a bit of gluttony kicked in during ordering, the creamy yoke breaking over the pancakes just adds an extra layer of decadence. I’m not even a pancakes guy. I can’t remember the last time I ordered pancakes, seriously.

The server tells me that this is the number one order for breakfast lunch and dinner service. I can believe it. It’s also what Guy Fieri had when he visited with Triple D. BTW, mark down Dec 19^th on your calendar the Red Wagon airs on the food network. That would be Triple D checking out Triple P at RW ;) Nevermind.

Deb had the burger. It looked great. Better in fact then the one I had a while back. Check out my review back at Handsome Burger.

Dave had the pulled pork. He licked his fingers clean.

Wei had the beef and brie sandwich. I had a slice, it was ok. But then I just had the pancakes and its not a fair transition. The home made chps are addictive.

My only complaint about the Red Wagon is the size, this place is tiny and there was a constant line at the door waiting to be seated. It’s time to hitch another wagon to the red wagon and expand.

Nicli Antica Pizzaria: Prosciutto e Rucola

The dough has a nice thick shell, soft tender toothy interior.

The tomato sauce is soft subtle sweet.

The prosciutto is unfortunately over salty. I can't believe I'm even entertaining the idea but perhaps the pizza would be better off without this prosciutto. I don't have a list per say but prosciutto might just be in my top 10 favourite things of all time. I know, it’s a scary thought but somehow, the saltiness of the prosciutto overpowers the delicacy of the other ingredients.
Maybe it was the brand, I sometimes find the local grocery store prosciutto overly salty. The producer cutting corners during processing, it’s a lot cheaper to pump the hog full of salt instead of letting it hang and properly cure.

None the less there is lots to like about Nicli pizza. It’s fresh its lively its toothy and it is good.

I look forward to going back,  I've already picked my next order. Is that wrong?
Definitely on my favourite Vancouver pizza list.

My apologies on the photos. I didn't have my camera and my Blackberry was not cutting the mustard. Or maybe it was just shooting through it becouse it just wouldn't focus.