Saturday, June 25, 2011

REVIEW: PNC's Primanti

There is a tradition in Pittsburgh known as the Primanti Sandwich. It's essentially some sort of meat (Italian cold cuts or beef) topped with fried potatoes—basically a huge sandwich with smushed french fries. (see photo of PNC's version above).

Here's how the Primantis themselves describe its origins in the 1930's:

"I fried the potatoes on our grill and they looked pretty good. A few of our customers asked for them, so I put the potatoes on their sandwiches."

If you come to Pittsburgh to follow the Sox this weekend, you need to try it—but according to our FN taste-tester, you might be better off in the Primanti restaurant itself and not PNC. Kind of like Fenway food vs. the vendors outside. You get the drift.

2 comments:

  1. I've tried a Primanti Bros. sandwich and it was delicious; I'm surprised more sandwich places haven't tried the idea. But yes, I would agree on having it at one of the actual locations if you can.

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  2. From a Boston point of view, you'll enjoy the cold-cut version over the so-called cheese-steak version.

    Looks like Sox had 8 or 9 Primantes before taking the field Friday.
    John D.-Medford, MA

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