My brother came to visit a couple of weekends ago and we spent our days watching Pitt football lose (boo), playing skeeball at Chuck-E-Cheese's, walking Buster around the neighborhood, and cooking.  Oh, and eating everything that we cooked.  We're good like that.  It's amazing how quickly the time flies by when you know how limited it is.  The two days were gone as quickly as they came, but I have a feeling Dan will be back soon to play with his favorite niece.

Here's what he has to say: "While visiting Lindsay, Jake and Lily in Massachusetts I wanted to pay homage to a few places both Lindsay and I have called home.  Our sandwich is inspired by the Pittsburgh great Primati Bros., which traditionally includes sliced Italian bread bookending fresh cut fries, coleslaw, and  your choice of greasy meat and cheese.  A fried egg is often the coup degrâce.  Our version includes our own autumn slaw, baked sweet potato fries, and sweet Capicola.  We kept the sliced Italian bread and fried egg, but went without cheese to lighten it up and let the other ingredients shine.

Our sandwiches were accompanied by a Baltimore brewed Heavy Seas Märzen.  It’s medium amber body and toasty malts are perfect for a cool fall evening.  I toured the Heavy Seas Brewery in Halethorpe, Maryland last weekend and could not be more impressed by their friendly, small family business culture and passion for quality beer."

I personally wasn't drinking craft beer while living outside Baltimore as a kid and in high school (not that I'll tell you about anyway!), but eating Primanti's sandwiches is a classic that I could always partake in.  Now that the restaurant is a local chain it's easy to eat there every time we visit my dad, but nothing is as special as sitting down at a table in the original shop in the Strip District to eat the classic Pittsburgh sandwich.  Speaking of Pittsburgh classics, remind me to tell you about the fries at the Original Hot Dog Shop someday.

FauxPrimanti Sandwich (4 servings):

8 thick slices of Italian bread 1/2 pound capicola Sweet potato fries (you can make your own, but we just made frozen) Autumn cole slaw (see recipe below) 2 Tbsp. butter 4 eggs

Prepare the sweet potato fries as directed.

Assemble the sandwich by layering the bread, meat, fries, andcole slaw with the fried egg on top, and another slice of bread to finish it off.  Enjoy!

Autumn Cole Slaw:

1/2 head red cabbage 1/2 head green cabbage 1 apple 1 cup shredded carrots 1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 2 tsp salt Additional salt and pepper to taste

Shred the cabbage and slice the apples into matchsticks.  Combine with the shredded carrots and set aside.

Whisk together the vinegar, oil, honey, and salt.  Drizzle over the cabbage mixture and toss until well combined.  Refrigerate for at least two hours to let the flavors develop.  This will make a lot more than you need for the sandwiches, so you can also use it as a side dish!

Source: Sandwich inspired by Primanti Brothers, cole slaw loosely adapted from Rachel Ray