The Porker: I’m Squealing with Delight!

I took another lunch time stroll into downtown today and made a beeline for The Porker. This is, admittedly, odd behavior for a 20 year+ vegetarian, even one known for a weakness for bacon.  But after browsing their twitter feed and salivating over their daily ‘OINK’  and ‘NO OINK’  specials alike, I couldn’t resist. The chef and owner, Chad Clevenger, was recently nominated for Denver’s best street food chef, as well, which was doubly enticing, and in a comment on this site had let fly two words that made my decision for me: Peach aoili.

(Sidenote: Also nominated for best street cart chef are David Bravdica of the recently-blogged-about-here Brava Pizzeria (droolworthy), and Mike Winston of the equally tasty GastroCart – nice work guys!)

Now, about that aoili…

So, I took my place in line and perused the menu: Today’s veg special was a portabella sandwich with the promised peach ailoi, heirloom tomatoes, greens, and feta cheese. Seriously. Peach aoili and feta. All for $5?  Sold. As I waited for my food, another customer, Tim, walked up and commented to the self-described cart jockey that these guys need to get their Twitter and Facebook menu updates out earlier – he was understandably devastated to realize he had missed bacon grits (!!) last week.  We chatted a bit about our love of street food, and this site, and he asked me to mention to Chad that an earlier FB/Twitter shout out of the day’s menu was in order. So, Chad, for what it’s worth, Tim and I agree: Earlier updates would be awesome!

Anyway – food in hand I headed back to the office. I walked in and my colleagues all stared in wonderment at the sandwich in my hands. I mentioned that magic phrase, peach aoili, again, and they all muttered about how lame their leftovers were. Sorry folks, maybe next time you’ll join me.

The sandwich was divine: a little bit of pepperiness in the balsamic marinade on the ‘shrooms was balanced by just the right hint of sweetness in the peach aoili. And all of that picked up with the great combo of salty cheese and chunky tomatoes. Perfect for a warm summer day – the bright fresh flavors are definitely something that are not easily found at Civic Center Eats, which on many days feels like comfort food on wheels.  And while I love comfort food, a girl can only eat so many gravy-laden, deep fried lunches before she turns into a, well, into a porker.  Ironically, this sandwich from The Porker was the perfect alternative.

Oink

And a quick mention of the pork options. I can appreciate pork – of all the the foods I abstain from, this is the only one I think about longingly (and occasionally enjoy, truth be known).  The Cuban sandwich, today’s special, looked fantastic, and Tim, who appeared to be a semi-regular here, was hooked enough  by Chad’s rad chefery (yes, chefery) to bemoan missing the opportunity to try the bacon grits.  The Porker claims to be serving up “Street Food at its Swinest” and by all appearances, they’re hitting the mark.  A total double yums up!