Primanti Bros

Primanti Bros., at 46 18th Street in Pittsburgh's Strip District, Pennsylvania, has been serving its signature overstuffed sandwiches since 1933, when Joe Primanti and his nephews began feeding the truck drivers and produce market workers who labored through the night in Pittsburgh's commercial district. The foundational innovation — and the one that made Primanti Bros. a culinary landmark rather than just a neighborhood luncheonette — was practical: putting the French fries and coleslaw directly inside the sandwich along with the meat, eliminating the need for separate plates and allowing drivers to eat one-handed while remaining in their trucks. The result is a towering construction: thick-cut Italian bread grilled on the griddle, a substantial pile of the chosen meat (pastrami, capicola, provolone, egg, or combinations thereof), a mound of seasoned coleslaw, and a generous portion of hand-cut fries, all assembled into a sandwich that requires two hands and a certain commitment to consume. The Almost Famous sandwich, layered with pastrami and cheese, is the most recognized version. The original Strip District location operates twenty-four hours and has the characteristic atmosphere of a place that has not changed much since the 1950s — counter seating, vinyl booths, and the perpetual smell of griddled bread and fries. Dozens of locations now operate across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, but the Strip District original retains the character of the founding concept.