The State College outpost of the Pittsburgh staple Primanti Bros. Restaurant and Bar has a new item on its menu – a unique sandwich named after a Polish neighborhood near the restaurant’s original location. The Polish Hill is piled high with the favorite Polish treat, pierogies, provided by the largest producer of frozen pierogies in the country, Mrs. T’s Pierogies.
Those fans of the tried and true Primanti Bros. recipe may be shocked to find this sandwich leaves the fries to the side, but the swap for the savory potato-filled dumplings is a more than satisfactory switch. After all, the Primanti Bros legacy is based off selling rib-sticking food to hungry laborers, no matter the hour, and there’s hardly anything as rib-sticking and ready to eat on the go as a pierogi.
The Polish Hill sandwich features Italian bread topped with kielbasa, provolone cheese, hot grilled slaw, beer mustard, tomato slices and pierogies, before being topped off with another slice of thick bread.
“A partnership like this doesn’t just occur overnight,’ said Ryan Wilkinson, director of marketing, Primanti Bros. ‘We’ve had fans from all over asking both Primanti Bros. and Mrs. T’s Pierogies to collaborate. After some careful time in the test kitchen and months of planning — the Polish Hill was born, an homage to a great, historic neighborhood in Pittsburgh, topped with the most popular pierogies in the country,”
The unique creation is the first of its kind on the Primanti Bros. menu. After the June 8 release, diners have been generous with feedback. On Twitter, high praise has been doled out, with comments like, “…This is ordained by [God] as food for Heaven. Now it is on Earth. Amazing!” and “My prayers have been answered.”
“We’ve never been too good at the math end — but we know we’re getting truckload deliveries of Mrs. T’s Pierogies almost every day — so it is sage to say we’re selling a bunch,” added Wilkinson.
The manager of the original Primanti’s location, Toni Haggerty, notes that he doesn’t allow just any change to the Primanti recipe, but this particular change was deemed worthy to make the menu, at least for a limited time. Haggerty said, “If polka music was a flavor – I’m pretty sure this would be it.”
As for Mrs. T’s Pierogies, the team is also enthusiastic about the partnership, calling the collaboration “a match made in sandwich heaven.” Mrs. T’s Pierogies is another Pennsylvania-based brand, located in Shenandoah. The pierogi empire began in 1952, when founder Ted Twardzik Sr. developed his mother’s pierogi recipe for distribution at a local Shenandoah grocery store. Now, the company produces as many as 600 million piergoies each year.
With all the talk of this Polish-inspired sandwich creation, you can to try it for yourself, at the State College Primanti Bros. location downtown, at 130 Hiester St. You’ll have to hurry, though; the specialty sandwich is only available through mid-August.
You’ll also find the Polish Hill at the 43 Primanti Bros. locations across Pennsylvania and in Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan and Maryland.
