The world famous sandwich with French fries and cole slaw is set to come to Mt. Lebanon this month as Primanti Bros. opens at 1539 Washington Road, in the former Coldwell Banker site.

Michale Kratsas, director of development for Primanti Bros, says that the restaurant will open softly. “You’ll see the building with the Primanti’s sign and then you’ll be driving past one day and the lights will be on.” Kratsas says they plan on opening with this technique because any new business gets swamped when they first open.

The biggest difference between the other Primanti Bros. locations (there are 17 others in the Pittsburgh area) is the building itself. The facility was originally designed to look like a chalet. Kratsas says, “We wanted to make it a Primanti’s but preserve the building’s integrity.” So the ski lodge-feel remains. Kratsas says they refurbished the rustic fireplace and otherwise kept everything the same.

Kratsas says the reaction to the new restaurant has been excellent. He says “people who know what I do will come up to me just to talk about it.”

Primanti Bros. has been around since 1933, when the original shop opened in the Strip District. Since then, 16 more shops have opened in Pittsburgh and three have opened in Florida.

Primanti Bros. may be a local business, but they are nationally recognized thanks to Man v. Food and Food Paradise, two popular TV shows. Primanti Bros. was also featured in an article in National Geographic in 2003. So when your annoying relatives come in from New York City you can show them that Mt. Lebanon has a famous business now too.

The restaurant will seat 160 customers. The hours will be from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. http://www.primantibros.com/