{"id":322,"date":"2014-08-27T12:49:00","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T12:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=322"},"modified":"2015-01-09T16:21:05","modified_gmt":"2015-01-09T21:21:05","slug":"primanti-bros-and-the-quintessential-pittsburgh-sammich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/27\/primanti-bros-and-the-quintessential-pittsburgh-sammich\/","title":{"rendered":"Primanti Bros. and the quintessential Pittsburgh sammich"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\" <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"At <\/a>
At Primanti Bros. in the Strip, 1979, Morris Berman\/Post-Gazette <\/div> <\/div>
\"Primanti <\/a>
Primanti Bros., 1996, Associated Press <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Rondey <\/a>
Rondey Oliviero of Primanti Bros. serves up famous cheesesteak sandwiches complete with fries and coleslaw at Three Rivers Stadium, 1994, Martha Rial\/Post-Gazette <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

It started as a sandwich place for hungry truckers and became a signature diner where you are guaranteed to learn what a quintessential Pittsburgh sammich<\/em> stands for.<\/p>\n

Call it a belly bomb. Primanti\u2019s Bros. sandwich is a Pittsburgh institution. You say it\u2019s bad for you? With coleslaw, fresh grilled meat and tomatoes? C\u2019mon\u2026 And as far as many Pittsburghers are concerned, fries are made of potatoes, and potatoes are vegetables. So there.<\/p>\n

Not convinced? Well, then you must have missed the news that Primanti\u2019s sandwich once earned a title of the best sandwich in America AND in 2010, ESPN.com ranked PNC Park<\/a> as the best ballpark in the country largely because they offer Primanti\u2019s sandwiches complete with \u201cgenerous servings of roast beef, cheese, coleslaw and \u2014 this is the key \u2014 French fries all between two buns.\u201d The reviewer wrote, \u201cI bet Willie Stargell ate them for breakfast.\u201d<\/p>\n

One more? Primanti Brothers made the list of \u201c1,000 Places to See Before You Die in the USA.\u201d Just do not die there due to cholesterol overdose.<\/p>\n

It all began in the Strip District in 1933 at 18th and Smallman as a small family business founded by one of the brothers named Joe Primanti, a Pennsylvania native. His brothers Dick and Stanley and their nephew John DePriter joined the business right away.<\/p>\n

The signature sandwich was a Depression-era invention and this is how the composition or, as some would probably call it \u2014 the concoction, came about, according to a story allegedly told by John DePriter himself<\/a>: \u201cOne winter, a fella drove in with a load of potatoes. He brought a few of \u2018em over to the restaurant to see if they were frozen. 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.\u201d The rest, as they say, is history.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Primanti Bros. chain has been feeding Pittsburghers and visitors to the city for more than 80 years. When it opened, it served primarily the late-night crowd. First, the customers were workers who unloaded produce in the Strip; in the 1970s, the Post-Gazette called Primanti\u2019s customers \u201cnight hawks from all walks of life.\u201d\u00a0Today, there are 17 Primanti Brothers diners in the Pittsburgh area and three locations in Florida.<\/p>\n

For a few years, the\u00a0Post-Gazette had a tradition of running \u201creaders\u2019 choice for the best sandwiches in Pittsburgh.\u201d We determined that several years in a row, Primanti\u2019s sandwiches won and our guess is that the newspaper stopped the contest due to readers\u2019 choices, which would predictably come from Primanti Brothers\u2019 menu.<\/p>\n

(Top image: Pittsburgh policeman, Wayne Wilson, of Morningside, bites into his favorite Primanti\u2019s Brothers sandwich, pastrami, egg, with the slaw and fries, lettuce and tomato, our readers\u2019 choice for the best sandwich in Pittsburgh, 1993, John Heller\/Post-Gazette)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It started as a sandwich place for hungry truckers and became a signature diner.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPrimanti Bros. and the quintessential Pittsburgh sammich<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[946],"tags":[974,1033,1157],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_nayo3ilWsq1rr5swxo3_1280.jpg?fit=1280%2C826&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":526,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/06\/25\/hip-dinosaur-dippy-oaklands-trendy-dinosaur\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":0},"title":"Hip dinosaur Dippy, Oakland’s trendy dinosaur","date":"June 25, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Dippy\u2019s fiberglass statue is only 15 years old.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/tumblr_n7obs3wz8e1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5236,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/04\/29\/chiodos-tavern-in-homestead-home-to-everybody\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":1},"title":"Chiodo’s Tavern in Homestead, home to everybody","date":"April 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Now it\u2019s a Walgreens, but it was once a Homestead drinking destination.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/img004.jpg?fit=1200%2C1016&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1677,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/06\/19\/robert-lansberry-pittsburghs-most-famous-street-protester\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":2},"title":"Robert Lansberry: Pittsburgh\u2019s most famous street protester","date":"June 19, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"He was a man who never gave up.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/tumblr_moei2asSlV1rr5swxo2_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C865&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2014\/08\/01\/wild-sisters-coffeehouse-pittsburghs-first-feminist-bar-bistro-and-cabaret\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":3},"title":"Wild Sisters Coffeehouse, Pittsburgh\u2019s first feminist bar, bistro and cabaret","date":"August 1, 2014","format":"gallery","excerpt":"Mary Pat Donegan, a psychotherapist, was president.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/tumblr_n9laljEGpW1rr5swxo5_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1080%2C743&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2047,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2013\/02\/15\/heinz-house-is-brought-by-boat-to-pittsburgh\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":4},"title":"Heinz house is brought by boat to Pittsburgh","date":"February 15, 2013","format":"gallery","excerpt":"What\u2019s the quintessential image of Pittsburgh\u2019s past?","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/tumblr_mi8cyyDDWy1rr5swxo6_r1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C839&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2455,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/03\/nov-1-1968-ringling-bros-clown-frankie\/","url_meta":{"origin":322,"position":5},"title":"Ringling Bros. 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