East Coast transplants and sandwich fanatics, take note: Jerry’s Roast Pork is nearly here. The garlic roast pork-focused sandwich shop opens on Tuesday, November 4, at San Francisco’s Two Embarcadero Center.
The Embarcadero Center serves as the home of Jerry’s Roast Pork and the coffee shop for Rosalind Bakery Molly DeCoudreaux
Jerry’s is the latest business from Rosalind Bakery founder Matthew Kosoy. The Pacifica bakery first ventured into San Francisco in 2023 thanks to the city’s Vacant to Vibrant program, which seeks to temporarily fill vacant retail spaces in the downtown area. Rosalind Bakery was one of four food partners selected out of numerous applicants for the program, settling into a space at Four Embarcadero Center. “It was just a unique opportunity to be able to help with San Francisco’s recovery downtown, even in a little way,” he says. The location served as an outpost for the bakery’s goods and coffee, and has now long outlived its 90-day deal for that space.
Getting into the Vacant to Vibrant program and expanding to downtown was fortuitous in a lot of ways, Kosoy says. It eventually led to opportunities such as opening this roast pork sandwich spot. The San Francisco coffee shop doesn’t have any food prep space, so Kosoy went on the hunt for a commissary kitchen. In the process, Kosoy found a unit that was perfect for prep — but it was also for a restaurant.
As an East Coaster who grew up in the suburbs of South Jersey, Kosoy’s thoughts drifted toward the roast pork he had growing up, and he knew he could “deliver a very high-quality product consistently and also make it really fast.”
Kosoy name-checked Philadelphia spots like John’s Roast Pork, Tommy Dinic’s Roast Pork, and Tony Luke’s as his inspiration. His recipe for the garlic roast pork is a minimum three-day process; the meat is brined on the first day, then roasted on the second day, but “the magic happens when we take that roast and cure it overnight in the refrigerator,” he says. The fat congeals and the roast is then sliced thinly on the third day and simmered in a house jus for service. “That’s where we really get to build deep flavor,” he says.
Having once worked at a hoagie shop when he was 15 years old, Kosoy has strong ideas about bread and will make his hoagie rolls in-house. The semolina- and sesame-laced roll — modeled after the rolls at now-closed Sarcone’s Deli in Philadelphia — serves as the foundation for the garlic roast pork sandwich. “I do have an emotional attachment to [hoagie rolls] because it’s very regionally specific, and I’m very proud of where I grew up,” Kosoy says. “I also want to plant my roots here as well and represent the place I grew up, so when I started doing bread it was an obvious thread to connect.”
Molly DeCoudreaux
Molly DeCoudreaux
The sandwich will get a hit of broccoli pesto made by the team, followed by “crumbly, super sharp” provolone, that simmered pork, plus a broccoli raab-slash-broccolini combo roasted in garlic and olive oil, with a bit of red pepper flakes. “It’s a South Philly-Italian thing,” Kosoy says. “The bitter, spicy green compliments the savory, salty-sweet pork, and the super funky cheese, and it’s just always been that way for a very long time.”
Kosoy will keep the menu simple outside of the labor-intensive roast pork with just two sandwiches total to start. There will also be a seasonal vegetarian sandwich, thanks to the close proximity to the Ferry Building farmers market. Already, Kosoy is hard at work creating condiments, pickling and fermenting items for that sandwich. One idea he’s kicking around is a roasted carrot sandwich with the root vegetable boasting some nice caramelization. “The sleeper part’s going to be the vegetarian sandwich,” Kosoy says. “The theme of my restaurant is misleading, [because] I’m very excited to work with vegetables and to offer salads and vegetarian food, and potentially vegan food to the broader community.”
Along with a salad on the menu that will also skew highly seasonal, Jerry’s Roast Pork will offer three to four pizzas that skew more Roman- and grandma-style, which the original Rosalind’s Bakery also carries. To start, there will be a soppressata and hot honey pie, a tomato pizza, and the Embarcadero Special, whose ingredients will be determined by the farmers market offerings that week. As the business gets settled, the team may add sides, along with to-go pantry staples. At the start, visitors can also pick up some pastries and bread, as well as a drip coffee if they want.
Molly DeCoudreaux
Molly DeCoudreaux
This new roast pork shop allows Kosoy to do two things. Continuing to honor his grandparents — Jerry’s is named after Kosoy’s grandfather, while Rosalind is his grandmother — and working to uplift the struggling downtown area of San Francisco. Business at the coffee shop improved over the summer, and Kosoy is excited to see that continue for San Francisco. “We’re getting prepared to have more people come back and ultimately help push that return to downtown along a little bit, by creating a sandwich destination,” he says. “[This location] chose me, I did not choose it. It is all by circumstance. Luck favors the prepared — it’s that type of thing.”
Jerry’s Roast Pork (2 Embarcadero Center, Second floor, Suite R-2203) debuts on Tuesday, November 4, and is open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
Rosalind Bakery and Jerry’s Roast Pork owner Matthew Kosoy Molly DeCoudreaux