PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

While living in Niagara Falls, New York, Stefanie Gee often made the 3-hour drive to Pittsburgh to eat and explore — and then go home.

In 2021, she decided to stay.

Now the chef is managing Breadbox Sandwich & Sweet Shop on the North Side. She hopes it attracts local customers as well as vacationing foodies.

“We want this to be a place where everyone feels like a regular,” she says.

Located in the former Deli on North at 4 E. North Ave., Breadbox opened March 10 with a menu of classic and specialty sandwiches, wraps, hoagies, salads, seasonal sides, soups and dozens of pastries. You can get “carbohydrated” Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Gee grew up in the restaurant business and later fell in love with Food Network, particularly the cake-decorating shows that inspired her to become a pastry chef.

Last August, her credentials came up in a conversation she had with a stranger — who just so happened to be looking for a chef to helm their new business venture called Breadbox!

Michelle and Ken Zeff also own Lawrenceville’s Fancypants Popcorn, as well as eight YINZ Coffee shops throughout town. Breadbox is located next to the original YINZ and will eventually provide baked goods for its sister brand.

Gee’s desserts are addictive. While waiting for my sandwich (my favorite form of sustenance), I selected a bunch of goodies to take home, but couldn’t resist taking one teensy-tiny bite. Within minutes, I had taken many rather large bites out of two cookies and a cinnamon roll, plus a brownie that made me say, “O-M-GEE!”

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

Although she gravitates to the sweeter side of the culinary world, Gee is earning her chops as a sandwich artist, too, by creating a menu that hits all the bases and offers a few surprises.

Assisting her with these masterpieces are her former Hard Rock Cafe co-worker Danny Stark (the longtime Station Square venue closed in February), and Brent Boss, a Deli on North employee who stuck around. I saw Deli owner Pete Notarangelo there, too.

Nobody wants to leave this place! There’s too much to eat!

Typically, when I visit a new sandwich shop, I order a Reuben to compare it to the monster you get at Marshall’s Cigar in Spring Garden, but an online photo of the Breadbox’s Club on Breadworks Italian made me drool, so my daughter and I split one of those and immediately regretted not getting two.

Gee says the most popular sandwich so far has been the Fig & Smoked Gouda Panini. The Western New York native plans to wow locals with her hometown favorite, Beef on Weck, someday.

PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER

While still craving another Club, I was intrigued by the Steakhouse Panini; it’s roast beef, Provolone, balsamic onion jam, mayo and spinach pressed between two pieces of garlic toast. It’s French onion soup without the bowl.

Speaking of soup, there are about a dozen different kinds in rotation, with two available each day. You can slurp on-site or grab a quart from the cooler, along with containers of pasta salad, macaroni salad, potato salad and coleslaw. I suggest that you purchase all four of these summer picnic legends, cross the street and enjoy lunch in Allegheny Commons, Pittsburgh’s oldest, but recently updated, park.

In addition to making a seriously delicious Snickerdoodle, Gee makes people snort-laugh as part of a house improv team at Arcade Comedy Theater, Downtown.

Her work at Breadbox, however, is no joke.