Northern Virginia Magazine Review

Published in Northern Virginia Magazine
By Warren Rojas

For as long as I can remember, I have incorporated deep-fried potato products—be they in chip, shoestring, waffle or tot form—into any and all sandwiches preparing to pass between my lips.

Some people stare slack-jawed when I start my culinary consolidation routine. Others have openly mocked me.

Not Stephen Dugan. He gets it.

The Earl’s Sandwiches proprietor has paved the way for other closet potato-packers to indulge their starch-laden passions in public with his signature pork-and-fries creation.

Earl’s associate Michael Newman said Dugan stumbled across something similar to the pork and fries during a trip to Pennsylvania and immediately began toying with the potato-on-pork theme when he got home.

The end result features rustic ciabatta bread swabbed in a radioactive chipotle mayo—even my spice-averse better half appreciated the potency of this pepper-powered dressing—and loaded up with shaved pork (smoked in-house, daily), hand-cut spuds, diced onions and tangy pickle chips.

The Pearl is another gem of a meal, boasting slow-roasted turkey breast (plump, juicy slices of bird smoked in-house, daily), lump-free gravy and tart cranberry dressing dolled up with real cranberries (like Thanksgiving dinner on a bun).

The full Northern Virginia Magazine article can be read here »