Visit a Pittsburgh Institution and Eat a RoethlisBurger
A generation of Steelers fans can talk fondly of walking to Three Rivers Stadium and buying a Peppi’s hoagie to take into the game. The iconic sub shop had a near monopoly on fans who didn’t tailgate before games, prior to Heinz Field and PNC Park replacing Three Rivers Stadium as the respective homes of the Steelers and Pirates.
The two new stadiums—each tenant started playing in them in 2001—spurred heavy redevelopment on the North Shore, but Peppi’s still has four locations in Pittsburgh and it’s almost impossible to not run into one of its vendors selling hoagies on the walk to Heinz Field.
Nothing, however, beats visiting the North Shore shop on game days. The line is steady and sometimes out the door but it moves quickly. And Peppi’s is one of those places where the food is fresh—they cook everything right in front of you—and everything is good.
Prior to the Steelers’ final home game of 2015 a rectangular chalk board outside of Peppi’s advertised Lunch Ilkin—a play on the name of Tunch Ilkin, the former Steelers offensive lineman and current color analyst for the team’s radio broadcasts.
An Italian hoagie, chips, and a fountain drink for a mere $7.45 is tempting, but there is no way I can walk into Peppi’s and order anything but the No. 7, which is also known as the RoethlisBurger.
A couple of bites into my RoethlisBurger, with my arteries cursing me for all they are worth, I realize I didn’t need the fresh-cut French fries, as good as they are.
Half of the sandwich that is an ode to Ben Roethlisberger will be enough to satisfy both my hunger and curiosity and damn if it isn’t as good as the Steelers quarterback.
A mixture of sausage and ground beef make up the foundation of the sandwich and give it a nice little kick. A fried egg and American cheese are also part of it, and mayonnaise, lettuce, and tomatoes can be added as well.
The seeds were planted for the RoethlisBurger shortly after the Steelers selected a sturdy, strong-armed quarterback from Miami (Ohio) with the 11th overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. The next day one of Jeff Trebac’s employees said to him, “RoethlisBurger…hell of a sandwich,” and the Peppi’s owner started experimenting with different combinations.
He could not have predicted the events that would soon lead to the insatiable demand for the sandwich.
The Steelers’ plan to ease Roethlisberger into the NFL changed when an ankle injury suffered by starting quarterback Tommy Maddox in the second game of the season thrust the rookie into action.
Roethlisberger started his first game the following week and won. He won his next start after again leading a fourth-quarter touchdown drive and kept on winning until the end of January.
Roethlisberger became the first NFL quarterback to go 13–0 in the regular season. His emergence turned the sandwich named after him into a Pittsburgh phenomenon. And Root Sports Pittsburgh reporter Dan Potash, after Roethlisberger’s second win, told Big Ben about the sandwich and did a story on it.
“By [that] Friday it was in a Florida newspaper,” Trebac said. “It exploded.”
Indeed, a friend called Trebac after reading about the RoethlisBurger in a Bangkok newspaper, and the alphabet of national TV stations descended on Pittsburgh to chronicle the rise of the quarterback and the sandwich.
A day before the Steelers’ game against the New England Patriots on Halloween, Jim Nantz and several CBS TV producers walked into Peppi’s. Chris Berman sat down later that season with Roethlisberger at the Steelers’ practice facility and each ate a RoethlisBurger. The lunch anchored a five-minute story that ESPN ran on its pre-game shows.
Trebac loved the free advertising but had trouble keeping up with the demand for RoethlisBurgers—and not just when the Steelers were playing at home.
“Every single day it was pandemonium,” he said.
Bee Huss takes front and center near the end of every tailgate she and others faithfully attend before Steelers games at Heinz Field. Huss always provides the toast before people start making their way to the stadium.
It has died down a little, Trebac said, but Roethlisberger and the RoethlisBurger continue to thrive.
“It’s not just a novelty,” he said. “It’s a really, really good sandwich.”
Peppi’s menu includes other sandwiches named after Steelers players, including the Franco (an Italian sub with extra salami) and the Heath (double steak, onions, peppers, and barbeque sauce).
Fans who were in the North Shore shop less than three hours before the Steelers and Broncos kicked off probably had two questions about one of the customers: Did Joey Porter order the “Joey Porter Bella”? If so, does the former Steelers outside linebacker and current assistant coach have to pay for the sandwich named after him?
Yes, Porter made a stop at Peppi’s before going to work that day at Heinz Field. And try as he might to blend in with the other customers who waited for their orders he simply couldn’t. Porter wore dark jeans and a white dress shirt but his barrel chest blew his cover as a former football player. And it’s not like Porter blended in when he tormented opposing quarterbacks for the Steelers.
Colorful and occasionally outrageous, Porter became one of the NFL’s best pass rushers in the 2000s and one of the faces of the Steelers while playing in Pittsburgh from 1999 to 2006. He was downright quiet, though, as he waited for his sandwich, mindful of the people stealing glimpses of him and politely shaking hands with the customers who wished him and the Steelers luck on their way out of Peppi’s.
Porter did order the sandwich named after him—he paid, too, before taking it to go—and it is a mix of grilled steak and portabella mushrooms that is topped with Swiss cheese and spicy horseradish.
Porter was a regular at Peppi’s when he played for the Steelers and Trebac knew early on that he approved of the sandwich named after him. After seeing it on the menu for the first time Porter nodded at Trebac as if to say, “Way to go.”
The special at Peppi’s on the day of the Steelers’ final home game in 2015 was an ode to Tunch Ilkin. But the big draw at the sub shop is the sandwich named after quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
EXTRA POINTS
Games Before the Game
Fans hoping to try their luck before a game or after it have the option of parking at the Rivers Casino on the North Shore. Parking for Steelers games starts four hours before kickoff and costs $60. Rivers is only about a 10-minute walk from Heinz Field even if your wallet is a little heavier after hitting the casino.
Rivers features slot machines, table games and poker rooms inside a 450,000-square-foot facility that never closes and also has restaurants and entertainment. If you are making a trip out of a Steelers game, Rivers should at least be considered as a place to stop. The parking Rivers offers only enhances its appeal to fans who have the option of hitting the casino before or after the game. Or both.