Primanti’s tops new sandwich with pierogies
The big — BIG — story in Downtown Pittsburgh is a sandwich with pierogiesand fried coleslaw on it.
Iconic Pittsburgh sandwich restaurant Primanti Bros., worldrenowned for its sammiches with french fries and coleslaw on them, partnered with iconic Pennsylvania pierogies maker Mrs. T’s on the sandwich — named Polish Hill. It was unveiled Friday at the Market Square restaurant Downtown.
Like the city neighborhood for which it’s named, it’s an ethnically rich mound — thick-sliced Cibrone Italian bread with a slab of deepfried kielbasa, topped with melted provolone, three grilled onion-flavored pierogies, coleslaw that is fried right there on the grill, spicy mustardand tomato.
It’s $8.69 and available at all Primanti’s locations, except the local sports venues and the stores in Indiana and Florida, and should be availableat least through the summer.
It was perfectly Pittsburgh and Primanti’s that a new sandwich would be a media event Friday, complete with all four Pittsburgh Pirates Pierogies and a live accordion player doing polka music while cameras and cell phones shot photos and videos.
After I tweeted a photo of one of the first sandwiches prepared for the public, I wrapped two hands around half of it and girded myself to open as wide as possible and take one of the first bites. A pierogi fell off. I put it back on. Primanti’s marketing coordinator Amy Smith asked, “Did you like it?”
I pointed to my empty piece of wax paper. I wasn’t the only one. “I like it!” pronounced Brittany Spencer of Elliott, who came to the patio of the Market Square restaurant with her parents and fiancé and best friend — just to be among the first to try the Polish Hill.
“It’s messy,” she said. “But that’s a Primanti sandwich.”