But, it's time we talk about another Pittsburgh specialty: the french fry salad.


That's right. A pile of greens, veggies, chicken or steak and french fries. I took my latest visit to the Clarksburg Primanti's location where I met up with best friend and college roommate Kayla (and that new baby!) to espouse the greatness that is the french fry salad.

One possible origin for the salad, as noted in Serious Eats’ culinary history of Pittsburgh, is Jerry’s Curb Service, a drive-in originally located just north of the city, which claims that "on a fateful night in the early 1960s… a customer placed a rather unusual order — a steak sandwich, hold the bun, add fries and salad dressing." Donna Reed, Jerry’s wife, made a version for herself but "placed her sliced steak, fries, and salad dressing atop a fresh bed of lettuce." Jerry’s however, simply calls this "staple in the restaurant industry" a "Steak Salad." Like any restaurant dish whose highly convenient origin story involves a quirky customer order or a chef/owner’s inventive use of constrained ingredients — see: the negroni, the Caesar salad, Buffalo wings — the tale is hard to definitively disprove, but of course, no one really knows (Eater).

This Primanti's location is fairly new, and modern - like most of the branch locations. A nice open area, dark colors and the same humongous sandwiches (and french fry salads!) that the area has come to love.

So, I ordered the Sirloin Steak Salad with Fries - seasoned strips of sirloin steak, house salad mix, tomato, chopped egg, roasted peppers, bacon, crumbled and creamy bleu cheese and housemade croutons.

The salad came out on a humongous plate with a flat grilled beef amalgamation covering the bed of iceberg lettuce, slivered tomatoes, red onions, and not-quite-crispy fries. For the most part, I'm super into this salad. I feel like it's reasonably healthy with a bit of indulgence. The nice salty fries make for a tasty combination with the creamy dressing and crunchy veggies. It's a classic of the Pittsburgh area, and I know some friends who even specifically seek out this dish at restaurants. Gotta try it - at least once!

Grade: B

I've heard great things about Julio's Cafe - from a New York Times piece to praise from locals. My friend Kayla recently visited this place and once again raved about the meal. I implored her to go once again - with me - so I can finally experience it.

We went to Julio's after work one week night. When we walked inside, there was no one to greet us -- for at least 10 minutes. It was uncomfortable. There was one other couple in the front dining space that just kept casually looking at us as we lingered around the large wooden bar waiting to be seated. Kayla even wandered to the back to find someone, but no one was in sight. Finally, someone came out and told us to sit wherever we wanted. No apologies for the wait. Meh.

We were handed menus, which was nice because I know that they sometimes (or at least used to) not give out menus and rather simply read off the list of menu options.


I quickly put in an order for the "Signature Tomato Plate" because I was starving, and I'm a sucker for anything "signature." Fresh tomatoes paired with fontanella, provolone, pecorino romano, bocconcini mozzarella and topped with their homemade secret sauce. Count me in.

The thick chunks of tomato were delicious, and there were three hunks of fresh mozzarella, and delicious crumbly wedges of the fontanella. I didn't love the thin slices of provolone - I feel like they could've been thicker or not at all. Also the secret sauce was essentially a pesto - and a balsamic would've been delicious. But, it was tasty and a nice fresh first bite.

While waiting for our entrees, I noticed how cool the dark tin ceiling and wooden accents and art was. A lava lamp accompanied each table. Its vibe harkens back to an old-school Italian restaurant - apparently with roots in Calabrian cooking. Many of the immigrants in the Glen Elk area hail from the province of Calabria, so having a restaurant that reflects that type of homestyle cooking makes sense.

We were served a basket of garlic toast, alongside olive oil, crushed red pepper and grated Parmesan cheese to make a small pool of yummy.

Next up was pasta e fagiole with beans and pasta in a light broth. I wish I were a bigger fan of beans, but they just don't do much for me.

My entree arrived in a massive heap. Layers of pasta took turns with a delicious cheese mixture and meat to create a tasty tower covered in a perfect red sauce. This sauce has a great flavor - a deep, rich tomato base with a nice spice and sweet. Not too thick, but not too runny. Very good.

Kayla ordered the Costanza, which was sundried tomatoes in a vodka cream sauce. I snuck a bite, and it was also quite good! I love a vodka sauce. I was surprised the sundried tomatoes weren't chunks within (which would have been a good texture variation), but rather were integrated into the sauce. Tasty.

We couldn't pass up the dessert. I went for a brownie with vanilla ice cream, and Kayla went with a butter pecan ice cream dessert. Both delicious; both diet-busters. Worth it? Yes.

I think, for the most part, this is a lovely little restaurant. I think it has some good, traditional food, and I think it has a great history. I think the first 10 minutes of my experience here set a not great tone, which was a bit hard for me to overlook. Fortunately, the food is tasty - and the basics here (like the red sauce) are phenomenal.

Grade: B

Home Industry is a huge pepperoni roll producer, known for their small red, green and purple packaged pepperoni rolls. They serve plain, cheese and hot pepper cheese. They even have one the has sauce and peppers inside, too.

While a lot of the other bakeries produce pizza shells and hoagie buns as well, Home Industry mostly focuses on the pepperoni rolls.

They're a little smaller than some of the others, but they're packed with sliced pepperoni. And they're super tasty.

Grade: A

Rogers and Mazza's is a well-known bakery that took over Marty's Bakery in Clarksburg. They sell a traditional pepperoni roll with harder Italian bread and stick pepperoni that Marty's used to sell, but they also have their own pepperoni roll - the Rogers and Mazza's pepperoni roll is a bit different.

Rogers and Mazza's pepperoni roll is made with a sweeter dough and sliced pepperoni and comes in three different varieties: plain, mozzarella or hot pepper cheese. These can each come in six ounces or three ounces. They also produce mini pepperoni rolls with plain or mozzarella cheese.


I loved these mini ones and dipped them in a sweet pepper sauce they sold. Delicious.





Grade: A

Old-fashioned, regular food is the name of the game at Parkette Family Restaurant. Chicken dinners? Check. Baked steak? Check. Liver & Onions? Yep.



Once seated - and it took a little while considering it was a Sunday afternoon and we were in solid church-crowd territory - we looked over the menu. The first thing that jumped out at me was creamed turkey and biscuits - oven-roasted, shredded turkey with homemade gravy over biscuits. This takes me back to high school days with the one day a year when everyone ate hot lunch - creamed turkey day.



So, I ordered that, and it came with two sides. I went with coleslaw and mashed potatoes. My coleslaw came out on its own first, which was odd. I didn't want to just eat a bowl full of coleslaw, so I kind of picked at it until my main entree came out. It was also a little heavy-handed on the mayo.


The plate was full of this gravy/turkey/biscuit mess - and I mean mess as a term of endearment. A made a forkful of mashed potato, biscuit, turkey and gravy in every bite, and it was pretty good. Really good? Nah. But pretty good, yes. Hot comfort food - not as good as when mom and dad make it - but a decent substitute for now.

Grade: B

D'Annunzios is another well-known pepperoni roll bakery in Clarksburg. Well, they also have bread, of course. But I was here for the pepperoni rolls.

I'm not sure if I just hit it at the right time, but there was only a person or two in front of me. I made it up to the counter quickly and was able to get my bag of pepperoni rolls in a few minutes and be on my merry way.

The first thing I noticed was that this was a bit more "branded." My day job is spilling over into my blogging, I think. But the bags had their logos, instead of the customer's name scrawled on them.


The pepperoni rolls were actual bun shapes - not flat like Tomaro's - and also had cubed sticks of pepperoni inside. D'Annunzio's is less spicy than Tomaro's. A fluffy, hot pepperoni roll is a treat.

I don't want to pick favorites, but I think I may have liked this one a little better. But, try for yourself and let me know.

Grade: A

North Central West Virginia is home to the pepperoni roll. Fairmont's Country Club Bakery is credited with founding the pepperoni roll. Though, two bakeries in Clarksburg are keeping up the tradition. One of those is Tomaro's Bakery.

Natalie Tennant is definitely Team Tomaro's and has passed out these pepperoni rolls at events and touts them whenever she can. Tomaro's is known as one of THE bakeries for pepperoni rolls. So, I did a mini pepperoni roll tour and woke up early on a Sunday to check them out.

Yes, Sunday. Tomaro's is open Monday 8-5, Tuesday closed, Wednesday-Friday 8-5, Saturday closed, Sunday 8-1. So, Sunday was really my best option. A lot of other people had the same idea.

I found parking along the street in front of the building. The turnover in this spot was pretty quick - people were entering empty-handed and leaving with bags full of bakery goodies.

I went inside the building - but not too far. It was packed with people waiting for the fresh pepperoni rolls out of the oven. People were inside chit-chatting, obviously knowing each other or have grown up together. I mostly tried to awkwardly stay out of the way when new people came in through the door.

Finally, my name was called, and a white bag holding two hot pepperoni rolls was handed off to me. I took them to my car and immediately had to try one. There's something special about a hot pepperoni roll right out of the oven. Tomaro's are more flat on the tops and bottoms with a slightly spicey stick pepperoni. It's a pillowy soft texture with a nice bite inside.

The pepperoni roll is a part of our culture, and it doesn't get much better than a freshly baked one from one of the best bakeries in the area.  If you haven't, give them a try.

Grade:A 

After dinner in Bridgeport one night, I scoped out a nearby place to have dessert. Toni's Ice Cream came up a few times. It's located in Clarksburg and is open late. T

On this night, it was raining like crazy, so I was super thankful for their drive-thru.

I got a regular ice cream cone with black raspberry. That seems to be a special house flavor, since there was chocolate, vanilla, twist and black raspberry.

I also got it with scooter crunchies, because what the hell are those.

Well, it turns out scooter crunchies are the best things ever. I remember getting ice cream at the convenient store near my house growing up that was strawberry and had those things on it. I just never knew they were called scooter crunchies.

Anyway.

Raspberry ice cream with scooter crunchies. Yes, just yes. Delicious.

Grade: A