It started as a porchetta sandwich stand at the Monkland Street Fest in 2015, and now Porco has opened up its brick and mortar location in NDG.
The very porcine-oriented casual restaurant opened up on Sunday with a menu that features the sandwiches that first caught the public’s eye. The offerings are substantially expanded though, with a poutine, corn dogs, and on the finer end of things, Italian-leaning fare such as braised pork belly on lemon and herbed farro with salsa verde, and pork milanese as main plates. It’s not all hefty, meaty options — there are non-pork menu items, and salads.
Porco takes up residence in the former Prohibition location (the original, smaller Prohibition space), and comes partly from the team who worked on the original sandwich stand — Johnny D’Amico, Johnny Pedicelli, and restaurant creative director Nicolina Servello, along with chef Angelo Ruscitti.
Servello has had a busy start to the summer — just a month ago, she opened a bistro, Hopkins, with chef Liam Hopkins a few doors down on Monkland. Servello told Eater the logic behind opening the two spots was to add more neighbourhood options to NDG, at different levels of formality.
“We want to fill the culinary needs of our neighbourhood. We want families to come to Porco on a Saturday afternoon and enjoy a casual meal amongst friends and family, and then they can visit us at Hopkins for an elegant dining experience or to celebrate a special occasion.”
Porco is starting out with dinner service this week, but will add lunch and brunch hours in the near future.
STATUS — Porco is open at 5674 Monkland from 5 p.m. until 10 p.m. (Sunday) 11 p.m. (Tuesday and Wednesday), and midnight (Thursday to Saturday). Closed Mondays.