Photo by Alyse Horn
Henry Pyatt, the small business and redevelopment manager for the City, holds up the diplomatic sandwich document signed by Mayor Bill Peduto, Councilwoman Darlene Harris, and Scratch Food & Beverage Owner Don Mahaney.

By Alyse Horn

To kick off Northside Sandwich Week, the Northside Leadership Conference and reigning Sandwich King Don Mahaney, owner of Scratch Food & Beverage, hosted “Meat in the Middle,” a diplomatic attempt to “use sandwiches to promote peace, love, and understanding,” between Mayor Bill Peduto and Councilwoman Darlene Harris.

Peduto and Harris are known not to always see eye-to-eye, but the two put their differences aside for the love of sandwiches and everything Northside.

Held at Scratch, 1720 Lowrie St., Peduto and Harris shared sandwiches prepared by Stella Bauerle and Scratch Executive Chef Matt Petruna.

Petruna prepared a Pig Hill Bahn Mi sandwich for Mayor Peduto, which includes 24 hour pork belly, braunschweiger, pickled carrots, crushed cilantro, and kimchi aioli on toasted sourdough bread. This is the sandwich Scratch is competing with for this years Sandwich Week.

Bauerle prepared Councilwoman Harris’ sandwich, which had ham salad, lettuce, tomato, pickle juice and mayonnaise on toasted white bread. This sandwich may sound plain, but it is a Billy’s original. Scratch took over the location that was once Billy’s and opened this past fall. Bauerle used to work at Billy’s, and Petruna joked that she came with the building.

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