Primanti's (Pittsburgh: buy, living, stores)

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

This drives me nuts. It is not a regional or Pittsburgh dish. German/Swiss have long put fries on their salads and sandwiches. You can find the same thing in the Capitol City area or rural restaurants in Central PA.

My husband is German and he said this is not so. I will have to ask a friend's Swiss daughter-in-law if she is familiar with this.

[Rocket88]

Anybody who watches shows like Diners, Dives, and Drive Ins knows that many eateries across the nation are now putting fries, slaws, relishes, and God knows what else on sandwiches. Many of these places are much newer establishments than Primantis and tend to have younger chef/owners who look like they are fans of ZZ Top. So the phenomenon of putting fries and slaw ON the sandwich does not seem to be that big of an anomaly compared to twenty years ago. In fairness to Primanti's, they have been doing it for eighty years. As for a recipe, here is mine.

Crispy shoestring fries
Mancini's Italian Bread
Ham, salami, egg fried
Slaw-light corn syrup, white vinegar, touch salt, pepper, caraway seeds
Frank"s Red Hot

[WILWRadio]

Made one today. Slaw is good. Fries good. Could not find Pastrami or Capicola in the Indy area supermarkets and tried it with Krakus Polish Ham. Not that great. Will have to try it with another meat. I suspect if I can find Pastrami or Capicola it will taste better.

[Moby Hick]

How can you not find pastrami or capicola? Those are in Nebraska even.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by Moby Hick

How can you not find pastrami or capicola? Those are in Nebraska even.

Looked at the local supermarkets here and they don't have it. Might in another part of the city but in my area they don't. Funny because the bill the west end of Indy along west3 8th as being the "International corridor" of the city. LOL

I will check Cincinnati. Might have better luck finding one or the other there. I am told a place called Jungle Jim's carries both. Probably a specialty food store in Indy has it but they probably are not near where I live.

[bluecarebear]

Originally Posted by doo dah

My husband is German and he said this is not so. I will have to ask a friend's Swiss daughter-in-law if she is familiar with this.

Ok, well, it is common from the PA German and Swiss I am related to and know. As I said, fries on anything can be found throughout Central PA and it isn't a new thing that has come about in the past 20 years.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by bluecarebear

Ok, well, it is common from the PA German and Swiss I am related to and know. As I said, fries on anything can be found throughout Central PA and it isn't a new thing that has come about in the past 20 years.

Thus, it is a regional dish. Not found nationwide. Cincinnati Chili can now be found in FLA too as well as in KY and IN but it is still a very regional dish.

[doo dah]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Looked at the local supermarkets here and they don't have it. Might in another part of the city but in my area they don't. Funny because the bill the west end of Indy along west3 8th as being the "International corridor" of the city. LOL

I will check Cincinnati. Might have better luck finding one or the other there. I am told a place called Jungle Jim's carries both. Probably a specialty food store in Indy has it but they probably are not near where I live.

I am pretty sure you will find it at Jungle Jim's! That place is amazing!

[_Buster]

Originally Posted by WILWRadio

Looked at the local supermarkets here and they don't have it. Might in another part of the city but in my area they don't. Funny because the bill the west end of Indy along west3 8th as being the "International corridor" of the city. LOL

I will check Cincinnati. Might have better luck finding one or the other there. I am told a place called Jungle Jim's carries both. Probably a specialty food store in Indy has it but they probably are not near where I live.

Whoa, mental note, a big downside of potentially moving to a midwestern city. can't imagine having trouble finding Pastrami or having to go to a specialty store. that is disturbing!!

I'm glad Pittsburgh has a strong ethnic heritage (and the foods to complement it) even for this reason alone.

[WILWRadio]

Originally Posted by _Buster

Whoa, mental note, a big downside of potentially moving to a midwestern city. can't imagine having trouble finding Pastrami or having to go to a specialty store. that is disturbing!!

I'm glad Pittsburgh has a strong ethnic heritage (and the foods to complement it) even for this reason alone.

Definitely true in some cases. I could not even find Krakus Polish Ham when in KC. At least I can find that in Indy. When I lived in the Twin Cities at least I could find most everything I needed. Not sure about Cincy yet since I have only visited one local supermarket a few blocks from the house I bought.

I'm originally from Connecticut and you can find virtually anything that you can think of eating somewhere in one of the cities in the state. And since the entire state is only 5,000 square miles (same size as many metro areas in the country) but 3.5 million people living in the state you do have access to a variety of specialty food stores as well as major supermarkets.

From what I've seen of Pittsburgh it too has a ton of specialty stores to go with the two or three big chains. And they do seem to be well stocked.