Just One Dish: The Poppe at Heavy Metal Sausage

This article was originally published by Philadelphia Magazine. Read the full story there.

One wonderful thing about Philadelphia is the length at which people like to discuss sandwiches. The longest conversation about a sandwich I’ve had in recent memory was with Patrick Alfiero and Melissa Pellegrino, the duo behind the new specialty sausage shop and deli making some of the most surprising and delicious sandwiches in the city right now, Heavy Metal Sausage Co.

Alfiero and Pellegrino are veterans of Philly's restaurant scene. Before opening Heavy Metal, Alfiero was the chef de cuisine at ITV, while Pellegrino worked as the beverage manager at Messina Social Club. In addition to running daytime shop operations, Heavy Metal hosts four-course trattoria dinners on Thursday and Friday nights that cost $65 per person. These sell out consistently, especially following Heavy Metal's recent nod as a James Beard semifinalist.

You could have a two-hour conversation about any number of the sandwiches on the menu here. Of course, Alfiero and Pellegrino won’t make you — you can just as happily wander into the shop from its quiet corner exterior on West Porter Street, snarf down "Poppe's Sandwich” and go on your merry way. And you’d be pleased. End of story.

But if you get to know the sandwich — a stack of sausage, cheddar, and pepper relish on rye — a little better, you'll be all the more satisfied. That sandwich took at least three days to make.

The Poppe is based on the sandwich that Alfiero’s grandfather, Poppe, ate most days. The original Poppe’s version was the snack of a Polish immigrant: a simple pile of soft white bread, sweet bologna, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomatoes, sometimes a slice or two of cheese, and a slather of pepper relish made by Alfiero’s grandmother.

Read the full story here.