A Productive Day at South Philly’s Italian Market

The menus at most of Philadelphia’s Italian sandwich shops tend to look similar. They don’t all serve cheesesteaks, but you can count on seeing an array of hoagies, as well as hot sandwiches featuring roast pork and beef, chicken cutlets, meatballs and a few other stand-bys. But one shop has steered away from the standard approach and built a stellar reputation for itself by serving sandwiches with unusual ingredient combinations.

Paesano’s is situated on 9th Street, right in the heart of South Philly’s famed Italian Market. Its entrance is obscured somewhat by the various signs and shopping tables on its block. But I managed to find it without any difficulty and was pleasantly surprised by its tasteful interior.

The menu was written out on a couple chalk boards behind the counter, which is near the rear of the shop. I had already browsed it online and knew what I’d be ordering, but I did snap a photo of the sandwich options. You can also get a better look at Paesano’s full menu here. 

As interesting as the menu is, I am finicky and wouldn’t eat most of the sandwiches on it without making changes. One exception is the beef knuckle sandwich, which comes on a long seeded roll and includes crispy salami, Sharp Provolone and American cheeses, broccoli rabe, a fried egg and lemon-caper butter. 

It’s not exactly in my wheelhouse as far as sandwiches go, but I was interested in trying beef knuckle and was comfortable with all of the other ingredients, so I went ahead and ordered it.

While I was eating on site, I also requested a Girardina veggie sandwich to go for my wife. That includes roasted eggplant, fennel, caramelized peppers and onions, Roman artichoke, fresh Mozzarella and basil pesto on the same seeded roll. 

After placing the order, I headed back toward the front of the shop and grabbed a table. The wait for my lunch was a short one, perhaps because I followed my usual pattern of arriving not long after they opened to avoid any lunch rush. It’s also easier to snap photos when a restaurant is relatively empty. 

I couldn’t have been much more impressed with the appearance of the beef knuckle sandwich when it arrived at my table.

The roll was very fresh and a little on the soft side, although I saw when I got to the small end that it was lightly toasted. I normally don’t like a fresh roll to be toasted, but it was barely noticeable on this occasion. While I prefer a crustier roll, this one got the job done extremely well. I didn’t see any bakery boxes, so I’m not sure where it was from. 

I should point out that Carangi Bakery, one of the region’s top makers of steak and hoagie rolls, suffered a fire and is temporarily out of commission. That has led to some sandwich shops having to turn elsewhere for their rolls. I can’t say if Paesano’s is one of them. 

Beef knuckle is a cut that actually comes from the round, just above the knees. It’s very lean and not quite as tender as what I’m used to on cheesesteaks. But it certainly wasn’t tough and it had a nice beefy flavor. It also worked well with the sandwich’s other ingredients. 

I’m not sure why the salami is referred to on the menu as “crispy.” It wasn’t. But it did add a nice element to the sandwich’s overall flavor, as did the Sharp Provolone and lemon-caper butter. The broccoli rabe was soft, which is how I like it. And I’m not sure that I even noticed the egg. 

Regardless, as alluded to above, everything came together very well for an excellent complete package in terms of both flavor and texture. 

My wife’s Girardina vegetarian sandwich wasn’t unveiled until I arrived back home, but the roll held up remarkably well for being wrapped that long and stuffed with so many moist ingredients. 

This sandwich had my wife’s name written all over it. It’s as if they called her to ask for her favorite ingredients before creating it. 

So it shouldn’t be surprising that she pronounced it one of the ten best sandwiches she’s ever eaten.

I again noticed that the small ends of the rolls were toasted; a little more heavily this time. While my wife doesn’t mind that, I might consider asking them to leave my roll untoasted the next time around.

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Paesano’s is within a block of a couple Italian butchers, and I hopped into one of them after finishing lunch to pick up ingredients for the Sunday gravy I had planned for the weekend. 

Esposito’s has been selling meats in South Philly since 1911. They know what they’re doing.

In addition to hot Italian sausage, I decided to liven up the usual gravy routine by foregoing meatballs in favor of a long-bone short rib and a bag of pre-filled, rolled and tied beef braciole. 

I started the cooking process late Saturday morning and had everything in the pot and ready to simmer by noon. 

After chopping my onion and filling an herb pouch with parsley and bay leaves – I hate chopping herbs – I pre-cooked the sausage partially in the oven and pan-fried the short rib and braciole to a nice sear.

The meat then went into the red sauce on the stove, where it stayed over a very low heat for six hours. 

Rather than eat any that night, I let it sit in the fridge for the flavor to intensify overnight. 

I finally fixed a plate for myself about an hour before Sunday’s NFC Championship game kick-off.

One of the bracioles along with a couple pieces of sausage and shredded short rib meat went into a small pot with some sauce to heat while I boiled a bag of pasta to al dente before mixing everything together with the addition of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. That batch will probably last me through the week. Then I’ll make another with the rest of the refrigerated gravy. I had enough to freeze some for later use. 

The finished product was extremely satisfying and worth the effort. While I don’t see myself using short ribs and braciole on a regular basis, they were a great addition to my usual Sunday gravy that I’ll probably include again some time for a special occasion – like the next time the Eagles go deep into the playoffs. 

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For anyone interested in my Sunday gravy recipe, you can find it at the bottom of this old post. The meats are different, but the method is close to the same. The biggest difference is that I removed the short rib and braciole from the pot this time after I seared them and before sautéing the onions. They were added back once the red sauce was otherwise ready. 
As indicated, I didn’t make the braciole from scratch. But there are plenty of recipes for anyone who wants to take that extra step. Here is a link to a video that shows it being made on one of my favorite YouTube food channels.