A Pittsburgh NFL Draft Food Primer: Iconic Dishes to Try First
You’ll leave with great memories — and a few extra pounds.
Jeet jet? That’s Pittsburghese for “Did you eat yet?” If the answer’s no, you’re in luck! The Steel City is home to culinary oddities that tend to boggle the minds of visiting foodies. Hope you like carbohydrates.
PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA
Primanti Bros. Sandwich
Start your experience with an “Almost Famous” Primanti sandwich (we pronounce it “sammich”) — preferably at the restaurant chain’s original Strip District location. Since 1933, the bros have been piling meat, cheese, fries and coleslaw between two slices of bread.
There’s nothing more Pittsburgh than consuming the Pitts-Burger, a seasoned beef patty with all of the fixings, made by longtime employee Tonya Haggerty in “The House That Slaw Built.” While you’re digesting, check out the eatery’s mural of legitimately famous local celebrities, from Mister Rogers to hockey great Mario Lemieux.
Visit Primanti Bros..
PHOTO SHUTTERSTOCK
Heinz Ketchup
Henry John Heinz founded his namesake company here in 1869 but didn’t start producing its signature tomato ketchup until 1876; before that, his mother’s horseradish recipe was the marquee product.
Although the condiment hasn’t been produced in Pittsburgh since 2000, the Kraft Heinz Co. corporate offices are co-headquartered here and in Chicago. Heck, there’s even a 35-foot ketchup bottle, previously part of the stockroom at Accrue Stadium (formerly and preferably known as Heinz Field) on a pedestal outside of the Heinz History Center in the Strip District. Yinz want fries with that?
Learn more at Kraft Heinz Co..
Pittsburgh Salad
If you’re on a diet, you picked the wrong city to visit. When you order a steak or chicken salad at a Pittsburgh eatery, chances are there will be fries on top of it. Thankfully, we also have a lot of steep hills, so you can work off the extra calories in no time.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF ISALY’S
Isaly’s Chipped Ham
Greasy, salty and paper-thin, chipped ham is a guilty pleasure that, frankly, we can’t stop eating — especially when it’s covered in barbecue sauce. Isaly’s, the 121-year-old company behind the lunch meat, also introduced the world to the iconic Klondike Bar. In Pittsburgh, we’re all on a first-name basis: “Isaly’s.”
Learn more at Isaly’s.
Mancini’s Bread
Mancini’s bread has been a staple in Pittsburgh tables since 1926. The company’s signature twisted Italian loaves live up to its motto, “Our bread makes butter taste better!”
For the past few years, co-owner Nick Mancini Hartner has earned accolades for this bread art. The Van Gogh of Dough has created more than 30 sculptures, from The Grinch and Beetlejuice to a “Night of the Living Bread” zombie, a nod to the city’s role in the iconic horror flick.
Visit Mancini’s Bread.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Jenny Lee Cinnamon Swirl Bread
Each day, 5 Generation Bakers makes more than 8,000 loaves of Jenny Lee Cinnamon Swirl Bread — a key ingredient in making the world’s tastiest French toast. The naturally fermented dough gets sheeted, dusted with cinnamon, rolled and baked in stainless steel, crimp-style pans.
After emerging from the oven, the loaves are bathed in a mix of egg yolks, salt, melted butter and a proprietary blend of cinnamon and sugar. No wonder everyone in the ’Burgh loves it.
Learn more at 5 Generation Bakers.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH BREWING CO.
Iron City Beer
If you visit Pittsburgh’s South Side neighborhood, you’ll see a ticking advertisement for Iron City Beer. The name of this hometown brew is written on a towering clock that’s nearly twice the size of London’s Big Ben. Time for a beer!
Pittsburgh Brewing Co.’s been churning out this traditional American lager for 165 years, and, thanks to its new 70,000-square-foot production facility in Creighton in northern Allegheny County, shows no signs of slowing down. Take a cold one down.
Visit Pittsburgh Brewing Co..
PHOTO: EAT’N PARK
Eat’n Park Smiley Cookie
If the Pittsburgh natural beauty and city skyline aren’t enough to make you grin from ear to ear, perhaps a Smiley Cookie will.
Eat’n Park, a regional restaurant chain known as “The Place for Smiles,” started offering the freshly baked, hand-decorated sugar cookies in 1986. These days, the company cranks out more than 6.4 million of them a year. All kids receive a free Smiley Cookie after their meal at every Eat’n Park location.
Now that’s something to be happy about.
Visit Eat’n Park.
PHOTO VIA PITTSBURGH PIEROGI FEST’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Pierogies
Polish potato-filled dumplings have a cult following in this town. In 2025, more than 4,000 people converged on the South Side for the Pittsburgh Pierogi Festival. They devoured goods from 24 local and national pierogi purveyors, purchased pierogi-themed merchandise, snapped photos with the Pittsburgh Pirates pierogi mascots and sipped pints of pierogi beer garnished with, you guessed it, pierogi.
PHOTO BY KRISTY GRAVER
Banana Split
The Banana Split was invented in the town where the world’s first banana was sold in 1904.
David Strickler, a pharmacist’s apprentice and soda jerk at Tassel’s Pharmacy in Latrobe, cut a banana in half lengthwise and placed a slice on each side of a boat-shaped dish. He then put three scoops of ice cream between the banana halves, and drizzled pineapple sauce over the vanilla, strawberry sauce over the strawberry and chocolate syrup over the chocolate. Strickler pushed his mighty caloric creation even further, adding whipped cream and chopped nuts to each scoop and placing a cherry on top of the scoops at each end of the dish.
It takes longer to make than to eat!
