Mastrocola now available at Kimberton Whole Foods
COLLEGEVILLE >> As far as signature foods of the Norristown area are concerned, Italian roast pork is right up there with the zep, the tomato pie and the cheesesteak.
“In Philly, they call it the Italian pork sandwich and it’s a cousin to the Philly cheesesteak, but it’s almost considered a little more gourmet than a cheesesteak,” said Mike Mastrocola, Jr. of Mastrocola’s Philly Pork Roast. “I think when the Travel Channel named DeNic’s roast pork sandwich the best sandwich in the country it really brought the Italian pork sandwich into the mainstream.”
Although it had disappeared from the local scene for a time, Mastrocola’s Philly Pork Roast has long earned accolades for its unique take on classic, fall-apart tender Italian authenticity.
As the brand ambassador for the company started by his late dad, Mike Mastrocola, in 1979 with a deli in Plymouth Meeting – now Fat Daddy’s — Mastrocola, beamed as he recalled how quickly Kimberton Whole Foods came on board with the recently reinvented, relaunched all-natural readyto-eat pork roast.
The Collegeville Kimberton Whole Foods location is now carrying Mastrocola Philly Pork Roast its deli and meat section, and it was also recently made available in the deli at the Kimberton Whole Foods store in Malvern.
“Everyone is familiar with our roast pork from our (restaurants) in Eagleville and Audubon, and we want people to know that the same exact recipe is now available at Kimberton Whole Foods. I saw that Kimberton had a really nice deli with natural products like roast beef but that they didn’t have an Italian roast pork. I did a demo for them with pork sandwiches and they loved it,” noted Mastrocola, sitting in the Kimberton Whole Foods café. “The decision was literally made right there. The beauty of it is that no one else in the area has Mastrocola Philly Pork Roast. You can buy it by the pound and serve it cold or hot. They have the au jus here too, so f you’re having a party, you just heat it all up. And the price is phenomenal — $8.99 a pound. You go in other markets and they want to sell you Boar’s Head turkey for $12.99.”
A recent sampling at the market that paired the pork with broccoli rabe generated a lot of buzz about the product, Mastrocola said.
“They’re great to work with here and are very open to things that will educate their customers,” he said. “I find the company very entrepreneurial and innovative.”
The roast comes presliced or can be sliced at the deli, in contrast to a shredded Mastrocola pork roast that many may remember had been sold in containers at Giant market a few years ago.
“It’s the same taste, but a more traditional Italian roast pork,” Mastrocola said. “Chefs were telling us they loved the taste before but the shredded pork didn’t present well. This sliced pork does present well. When we decided to come out with this sliced product it just skyrocketed. And our product is antibiotic free, which was important to Kimberton.”
Becca Settle, Kimerton’s director of marketing noted, “There is a lot of brand recognition from our customers, and we’re thrilled to be bringing this to them. Our deli and meat case has a large selection of either organic or antibioticfree meat, and that’s something that’s important to our customers.”
Mastrocola partnered with John F. Martin & Son’s Meats in Lancaster County for the manufacturing of the roast, Mastrocola explained.
“We brought them the specs and asked them to recreate the product we had in our stores. They have that talent and creativity to take our seasoning, which is blended in Chicago, and scale it and come up with the same product we had before,” he said. “A lot of their clients are Amish and Mennonite; that’s how our products landed in some of these high volume farmers markets they deal with, like Booths Corner in Garnet Valley.”
The product goes directly from John Martin to the Kimberton Whole Foods distribution center in Downingtown, Settle noted.
“We work with over 200 local vendors in the greater Philadelphia area and we want to support them any way we can and create awareness around the local brand, and see the vendors succeed. The model is that the local vendor has one location where they drop off, versus six locations. That’s something we take on for them because we find a lot of these local vendors have limited time, so it’s a way for us to create a stronger partnership. This product is really unique,” she added, “because it is something that is local to this area, so there was already that recognition so it was a matter of bringing that back to the local customers and letting them know that it is available in the community again.”