Primanti Bros
901 Fort Lauderdale Blvd.
Fort Lauderdale, F.L. 33304
954-565-0605

Pizza is listed as the best-seller at this small Primanti Bros dive which originated in Pittsburgh. At least at the Fort Lauderdale location which my dad and I visited that was the case. The most impressive thing on the menu, however, was their second-best seller, the “Pitts-burgher Cheese Steak”. It is the enormity of this sandwich that led my dad and I to opt out of heartburn for the next week, yet also caused us to stare at everyone as they tried to navigate their mouths around the stacked anomaly. A new friend sitting next to us at the counter who ordered the beast gave us his bite-by-bite assessment saying you can taste each ingredient’s individual flavor in every bite, and described the bread as “fantastic”. If sandwiches are your point of intrigue, this may just be for you. In fact, you’d think there would be some prize involved for finishing this five-inch-feat, Man v. Food style.

The ingredients:
Two slices Italian bread
Beef patty
Cheese
Cole slaw
Tomatoes
Onions
AND…
French fries!

But now, on to the pizza…

My dad and I were staying next door to this 24-hour joint, and before I heard about their sandwiches, I was told Primanti Bros had the “Best pizza in Fort Lauderdale.” This of course then provoked me to either confirm or reject this theory, as with any pizza. We ordered a medium pizza, half cheese, half peppers and mushrooms. At first glance, the pizza looked delicious with a wave of heat rising from the fresh baked pie. The taste, however, was not particularly notable. The pizza had a rich tomato sauce, generously spread with fresh-cut tomatoes and a lightly cooked, thick crust that made it slightly floppy. Overall, it was good, not great. Tasty, but not memorable.

“The pizza is middle-of-the-road,” as our sandwich eating friend next to us put it who ate it the day prior (he came back simply to try the Pitts-burgher). “Now the sandwich, that’s distinctive.”

Couldn’t agree more! The Pitts-burgher seems worth sampling, for sure, but splitting it would be wise. The pizza on the other hand… you’re not missing anything.

—Jamie Miles