The 10 best Pittsburgh sandwich shops

Chow down on the best thing made with two slices of bread at these favorite Pittsburgh sandwich shops.

Whether you’re yearning for a classic Reuben or a banh mi, Pittsburgh is a great place to be hankering for a sammich (that’s Pittsburghese for “sandwich”). Check out some of our favorite places to pick up the always-convenient handheld dish during National Sandwich Month (August) — or you know, anytime you want a sandwich, which is probably always.

1. Lucy’s Banh Mi

The banh mi of your dreams can be found in a little trailer set up through lunchtime each day near the Strip District’s Bar Marco.

Lucy’s Banh Mi has a cult following for good reason; the eponymous Lucy has been creating homemade Vietnamese food for decades, and there’s nothing quite like her banh mi, the Vietnamese sandwich filled with meats, pickled vegetables, and sauces that are so hard to replicate at home (the crispy yet airy French bread is key).

Lucy’s is usually seasonal, open only in the summer months — so hop to the Strip before the weather gets cooler!

2. Primanti Bros. sandwiches with all the toppings

Primanti Bros. is a necessary stop for any Pittsburgh first-timer, but anyone who lives in the city won’t refuse food covered in french fries. (The Pittsburgh salad — a regular salad topped with french fries — is a revelation.) And so, the Primanti’s sandwich, piled with meat or egg and topped with slaw and french fries, deserves its place on this list. After all, Primanti’s, which has been around since 1933, is an important player in Pittsburgh sandwich history, inspiring plenty of sandwich artists around the city to also fill their sandwiches with french fries. Thank you, the Brothers Primanti.

There are lots of Primanti outposts in the area, but you can find the original location in the Strip District. 

3. Spak Brothers hoagies

My personal favorite sandwich brothers in the city refer to a pizza place in the Garfield neighborhood.

Spak Brothers doesn’t merely have mouthwatering pizza but also giant hoagies that are something like a religious experience. Hyperbole, you say? My dog once pulled a Spak Bros. hoagie off the counter, quickly devouring it, and I howled to the spirits for what they had taken from me. And the spirits said, “Just go get another one. They’re relatively affordable at $11.99 for a 12-inch.”

I like the Pittsburgh Steak, also available made with shaved seitan, which includes banana peppers, mushrooms, and of course, french fries. 

4. Allegro Bakery sandwiches

Allegro Bakery, which went totally plant-based during the pandemic, makes some of the best bread and pastries in the city. But if you’re visiting the Squirrel Hill bakery to pick up a gigantic cinnamon roll, you might overlook the fact that Allegro also makes delicious and inventive sandwiches, served on its freshly made bread.

Allegro has a fixed sandwich menu with stunners (the mushroom melt! the kofta melt!), but also be on the lookout for its sandwich specials on the weekend, when the bakery spins together unique flavor medleys like sumac-roasted cauliflower with muhammara or roasted beets with pomegranate molasses, Aleppo pepper, and mint chutney.

Note that sandwiches are only served until 2 p.m.

5. Big Jim’s in the Run hoagies and Italian loaf sandwiches

Big Jim’s in the Run became a Food Network star when your favorite celebrity chef (Guy Fieri, obviously) pulled up in his ’67 Camaro (fact check: he did not actually drive the Camaro to Pittsburgh) to visit Greenfield’s Big Jim’s on an episode of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.” 

The restaurant, which falls in the lattermost category, serves sandwiches on hoagie buns or on half-loafs of Italian bread. That’s right, half a loaf of Italian bread, plus your sandwich filling — such as veal parmesan (what Guy tried). You can find Big Jim’s in, of course, “The Run,” which is in lower Greenfield and accessed via Saline St.

6. Pigeon Bagels sandwiches

When Pigeon Bagels opened its brick-and-mortar shop in 2019, it joined an eminent group of delicious kosher bakeries in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill.

While you can easily just order a bagel with schmear, you can also go all out with one of the best bagel sandwiches in the city. Try a classic lox sandwich with capers and red onions — or even a vegan carrot lox sandwich!

Just be sure to arrive early, because you’ll likely need to wait in line, and you’ll want to grab your sandwich before Pigeon sells out for the day.

7. Food for Thought deli sandwiches

Food for Thought is a New York-style deli located in the middle of Pittsburgh. The restaurant has been around for decades, serving up classic deli sandwiches like several versions of a Reuben or the restaurant’s triple decker club sandwich. You can also grab breakfast sandwiches, available every day. And like most delis, you can buy meats, cheese, and salads by the pound. Visit New York without dealing with New York traffic at the deli in the Oakland neighborhood.

8. Cilantro & Ajo arepas

Arepas are essentially sandwiches, as they are foods with fillings between cornmeal flatbread. They are quite popular in Colombian and Venezuelan cuisine.

Cilantro & Ajo, a restaurant that sells Venezuelan street food, is known for incredible arepas stuffed with a selection of meats, cheese, black beans, avocados, and plantains and covered with savory sauces.

The South Side restaurant is open every day except Monday; it also operates a food truck you can find around town. 

9. Leona’s ice cream sandwiches

A sandwich is a sandwich, and Leona’s is a local Pittsburgh company that knows how to make a fantastic sandwich — an ice cream sandwich, that is.

The frozen treat in the middle of a Leona’s sandwich is quality ice cream made with simple ingredients; the ice cream also happens to be 100% lactose-free (no need to reach for the Lactaid before enjoying this sandwich!). Leona’s makes a number of creative ice cream flavors that change with the seasons. And the cookies on either side of the ice cream — completing the sandwich — are baked homemade.

Find Leona’s for sale at numerous locations in the Pittsburgh area.

10. D’s Six Pax & Dogs hot dogs and hoagies

You should have known this was coming. I mean, I included an ice cream sandwich on this list! And now I’m including a hot dog, which refers to a filling between two slices of bread, ergo, a sandwich.

D’s Six Pax & Dogz grills up some of the finest (and most affordable) hot dogs in the area and covers them with any of a number of unique toppings like that of the “hot valentine” dog (sweet potato fries and sriracha slaw!) or the mac-n-cheese dog.

If you really hate me for including hot dogs on this list, fret not: D’s also sells more traditional sandwiches and hoagies, like a killer Italian hoagie and brioche roll sandwiches you can top with pretty much anything that’s also on the hot dog toppings menu.

See, both sides of the debate can be happy. Sit in sandwich harmony at D’s Regent Square location or Murrysville location.

This article first appeared on Good Info News Wire and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.