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Prantl's, Mancini's team for selection, not just the dough
By Deborah Deasy, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Thursday, December 30, 2010
Image by Joe Appel | Tribune-Review
A double dose of sweet, savory eats lures people into two of Market Square's newest storefronts.
Prantl's Bakery and Mancini Bread Company -- both long-time, local favorites -- now offer their popular loaves and desserts in a shared, freshly restored Market Street site.
The pair first joined hands in September 2008 to rent the former Jenny Lee bakery site on Market Square.
"We were both businesses looking to expand Downtown. Our future landlord introduced us," says Nick Mancini Hartner, 32, great-nephew of Jimmy Mancini, who founded Mancini's Bread Co. in 1929.
Their new site features a mustard-colored interior and awning-type canopies -- Mancini's is red; Prantl's is green -- over separate cases of baked goods. Customers can pay for all their breads, cookies, breakfast and lunch foods at one cash register.
Regulars include a number of office workers who simply drop in around lunchtime to buy a cookie.
"After lunch, people are looking for an indulgence," says Lara Bruhn, 39, one of Prantl Bakery's three owners. "A lot bring their lunch to work, and it's nice for them to get out of the office and treat themselves."
Bruhn and two partners bought Prantl's Bakery -- recipes included -- from Henry and Jane Prantl in 2006. "The staff remained intact," Bruhn says. "Several of our bakers are the same ones who worked for the Prantls."
Choices at Mancini's and Prantl's shared shop include breakfast and lunch items, ranging from Prantl's Danish crueller (95 cents each), muffins ($1.49) and scones ($1.39) to Mancini's hefty turkey, bacon and Swiss cheese lunch rolls ($5.75 each).
Mancini lunch rolls ($4.99 to $5.75) include pepperoni, ham, turkey and roast beef choices. All feature meat, cheese and spices "baked into our rustic Italian dough." A spinach and feta cheese lunch roll ($4.99) also is available. Add dipping sauce -- marinara, "horsey," ranch or buffalo ranch -- for 50 cents. "The pepperoni roll is our most popular. It rivals our bread," Hartner says.
Need rolls or bread for dinner? Choices range from the ever-popular Original Mancini's Twist ($2.75) to cinnamon raisin bread ($4.75), plus, sun-dried tomato and basil bread ($3.95), European multi-grain bread ($3.35), Italian bread ($2.75), Tuscan bread ($3.40) and marble rye bread ($3.97), Also available: dinner rolls ($3.25 per dozen), foot-long hoagie buns ($1.15 each), hot dog and hamburger buns ($3.15 to $3.65 per dozen), salt sticks ($2.65 per half-dozen) and baguettes ($2).
"I go in for Mancini's Twist bread," says Debbie Brose, a state employee who also claims to "dabble in Danishes." Brose enjoys the shop's variety of breakfast, lunch and dessert foods. "It's quality and value. It's a diversion from fast food."
Brose also has purchased Prantl's popular burnt almond torte ($19.99), which may be ordered and shipped out of state. "You have to do it one time in your life," Brose says.
For a daily sugar fix, however, Prantl offers many less pricey options: pecan tassies ($1), ladylocks ($1-$1.99), snowballs ($1), large chocolate chip, peanut butter, oatmeal raisin and iced cookies ($1.25 to $1.99 each), two-bite "junior pastries" ($1.25 each), including toasted almond and German chocolate cups, peppermint decadence and tiramisu, plus larger portions, called "cake bars ($3.49 each).
"Everyone has their favorites," Bruhn says. "There are a lot of things we make that you don't see any more."
Both Mancini's and Prantl's offer trays of goodies for office functions. Choices include platters of deli sandwiches to breakfast pastries and cookies, plus a complimentary, upstairs meeting room for small groups.
Making bread at Mancini's in McKees Rocks
Mancini's Bread Company opened in 1926 in McKees Rocks and continues to attract customers throughout the region.
Video by Nate Guidry, Post Gazette Multimedia
Click the image below to view the video on post-gazette.com
Mancini's Bakery Wins Best Bread of Pittsburgh 2010
Mancini's Bakery is proud to announce that The Pittsburgh City Paper has awarded Mancini's Bakery the #1 Spot for the Best Bread in Pittsburgh. We are extremely proud of this award and we would like to thank all of our loyal customers for their continued support of Mancini's. We would also like to thank the readers of The City Paper for voting Mancini's into the Number One spot.
You can read more about the Best Of Pittsburgh 2010 Here.
The Food And Drink Section (Where we are listed) can be viewed Here.
Don't forget to pick up your copy of the City Paper to see our new full page Ad!
Our New Signs!
Look for our new signs in your favorite store and on our racks! Anyway you slice it... it just tastes better!
Prantl's, Mancini's opening joint store in Market Square
In a business environment that has burned plenty of independent bake shops to a crisp, the prospect of two local bakeries taking over a Market Square storefront left vacant by the closure of the 70-year-old Jenny Lee Bakery business might seem far-fetched.
But that is whats happening.
Two local baking icons Prantls Bakery, of Shadyside, and McKees Rocks-based Mancinis Bakery have reached an agreement to take over the former Jenny Lee location, where they plan to offer what each does best.
For Prantls, that means various desserts, including its signature burnt almond torte, muffins, cookies and other cakes. Mancinis will sell its well-known breads, along with its pepperoni rolls and an expanded selection of rolls filled with roast beef, turkey club, ham and cheese, and spinach and cheese, among other ingredients.
Lara Bruhn, an owner of Prantls, and Nick Mancini Hartner, an owner of Mancinis, said they saw too much financial risk to take on the location alone, but each saw the opportunity to reach a larger customer base of Downtown office workers and residents with product lines that complement one another.
It was made easier by the decision to do it together, Bruhn said. You take two Pittsburgh baking icons and put the best of both of them in (one store).
Mancini Hartner, who is a cousin of the Baker family that operated Jenny Lee, plans to target a lunch trade, while Prantls expects to do more morning and evening business. I think its going to have a lot of synergistic affects, he said. Were going to create new customers for each of us. Prantls has been an institution on Walnut Street in Shadyside for more than 40 years. Its new owners bought the business in 2006. Mancinis started in 1926, selling its well-known breads wholesale from its McKees Rocks bakery.It is the kind of local flavor that Nick Nicholas, owner of the property, said he was looking for.
We want Pittsburgh traditional business down there. Hopefully this will be the beginning of some more, said Nicholas, who also operates Nicholas Coffee Co. in Market Square. Nicholas helped to bring the two bakeries together, offering a shorter-term lease in acknowledgement of the risk. Ken Zeff, owner of Crazy Mocha Coffee Co., which operates a shop in Market Square, said demand in Market Square is strong and that chains such as Moes Southwest Grill and Dunkin Donuts, which have new locations there, are finding that out. Its a shame that the whole square isnt (local) because its unique to the city and it?s the heritage of Downtown, Zeff said. The more locals have the opportunity to go in there, the better it can be for everybody.tschooley@bizjournals.com | (412) 208-3826
At Mancini's, one lives on pepperoni rolls
From baguettes to loaves of rustic Italian bread, the counter of Mancini's in the Strip District bears the expected look of a bakery. But, at Mancini's, what really matters sits wrapped in aluminum foil in a big basket. Pepperoni rolls. "On a Saturday, we'll sell 400 to 600 of them," says manager Erin Hodgkiss of what is the heart of Mancini's trade there. Mancini's, which sits in a narrow building next to Wholey's fish market, is every bit a bread bakery, but with its location, it strives to be something more. "We want to be a bakery with a cafe feel," Hodgkiss says.
It has a little artsy feel, too, with one of the walls decorated with pictures of the famous family of Mancini bakers in McKees Rocks and placards for concerts and shows in the area. That puts a different crust on this shop. While its range of breads ($3.75 a loaf) make it a likely place to stop when making a food rounds in the Strip, it thrives on shoppers stopping in for one of the pepperoni rolls ($4.75.). That treat is a large Italian roll filled with slices of pepperoni. It is big enough for a satisfying lunch, but also a size that several could be sliced up for a appetizer.
The rolls and items like the 18-inch bread sticks ($1.10) make Mancini's tick. Hang around at lunch time and watch a line form down the narrow aisle in the store. But Hodgkiss says times are changing. As housing sites such as the Cork Factory open in the area, more and more residents are taking advantage of the local bread source. The loaves of Tuscan and French specials are finding new homes.
The reputation of Mancini bread precedes itself. This shop is owned by Nick Mancini Hartner, part of the family that owns the famous Mancini's Bakery in McKees Rocks. As such, Hodgkiss says, the Strip outlet is related to the other Mancini's, but is not part of the corporate structure. Hodgkiss admits the pepperoni rolls are the shop's claim to fame, but points out another product that is finding some fandom.
For a specially aimed dinner, it will produce rectangular specialty breads bearing a Penguins' of Steelers' logo or an image such as a stork. They start at $25. "When people find out about them, they like them," she says.
Mancini's at 1717 Penn Ave. is open 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday; 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Saturday; and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. Details: 412-765-3545.
By Bob Karlovits, TRIBUNE-REVIEW Thursday, July 3, 2008
Playoffs Mean More Dough For Mancini's Bakery
If the Steelers manage to make the playoffs, it means local small businesses will get a boost. KDKA's John Shumway reports.
Best Bakery: Mancini's
It is Saturday morning, the week before Thanksgiving. The Strip District is even more crowded than usual, with shoppers mobbing the sidewalks and clutching their Thanksgiving grocery lists. My husband and I snake our way through the throngs to a small storefront just to the right of Wholey's: Mancini's McKees Rocks Bread Company.
Inside, close to the window, there is a young, dark-haired man deftly shaping rolls. We can smell the bread baking in the back: a slightly sweet, slightly yeasty aroma mixed with a hint of cornmeal and oregano. The space for customers is narrow, about 5 feet wide, with a line of people nearly to the door. While we are waiting, we browse the selection: foccacia, rye, European whole grain, raisin, Italian, pepperoni roll, cinnamon rolls, hoagie sticks. When we have finally made it to the front counter we try the free samples, plunging fresh bites of Italian bread into oil, spices and hummus. I order a cinnamon roll. It is dense, tender and juicy.
Nick Hartner, who owns and runs this store, is a third-generation bread baker. His mother, Mary Mancini Hartner, owns the original Mancini's McKees Rocks Bread Company, located on the newly named Mancini Way in McKees Rocks. Her father, Ernie Mancini, started the bakery 80 years ago.
Nick opened the Strip District store four years ago as a separate business, and has been steadily growing his customer base. When the store first opened, and business was a little slow, he started making whimsical bread sculptures to put in the window. The most-requested sculpture is his 6-foot bread alligator. He also makes seasonal items, like turkeys, snowmen and Christmas trees.
At first, Nick says, he had a hard time establishing his store as a recognizable part of the neighborhood. "When people come into the store, I ask them, 'Where else are you going today?' The same people always have the same answers. It's hard to become part of everyone's routine when they've been shopping in the Strip District the same way for so many years."
After four years, however, it appears that Hartner has helped bring new recognition to one of the oldest bread companies in the Pittsburgh area. But how did baking bread get into the family's blood? Nick's mother, Mary, remembers that she didn't spend a lot of time at the bakery when she was a child. But when she did visit, she and her siblings liked to skate on the cornmeal that dusted the floors.
"It was really fun ... and dangerous," she recalls. Mary's younger brother was in line to take over the family business. But in 1977 he was killed in a motorcycle accident. Mary started to help her father with the business on a part-time basis. When her three boys -- Nick, Ben and Ernie -- were in middle school, she had an opportunity for a bigger role. Her kids encouraged her to take the job, and Mary encouraged her kids to spend time at the bakery. They took summer jobs there, and helped out during the holiday rush.
As for Nick, he graduated from Marquette University with a degree in biomedical engineering in the late 1990s. He moved home to look for a job. Mary told Nick that if he didn't have a job in six months, he'd have to work at the bakery. Nick started on the night shift, making bread from 11 p.m. to 10 a.m. To his surprise, he fell in love with the bread. What makes Mancini bread so special? The ingredients are very simple: flour, salt, water and a little bit of shortening. But, as Mary explains, "we make it the old-fashioned way." That means that every loaf has ample time to rest before risings and shapings. It takes four hours to make every batch. "You can make it faster," Mary says, "but it won't taste as good."
Though Nick and Mary run their bakeries as separate entities, Nick uses the family recipes at his store, and his signature pepperoni roll, a delectable blend of pepperoni, spices and cheese cooked into the loaf, is now on the menu at the McKees Rocks location, too. Nick, who recently married, doesn't have children -- yet. "But when I do," he says, "I hope I can pass the love of baking on to them."
DECEMBER 14, 2006 BY KATHY NEWMAN
Cookies to pizza, send fans a taste of home
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Wheat prices affect bakers' dough
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Primanti-style sandwiches, kielbasa, sausage will pile up a Pittsburgh victory
Pittsburgh is all about tradition. It was a booming city when the denizens of Seattle were using bows and arrows. We were building our food traditions before Lewis and Clark trekked to the primitive Northwest............
Defying the Recession: We grocery shop wisely -- which means, we 'splurge' on the best essentials
Who says living on a fixed income or under an economic downturn means the elimination of all of the "creature comforts?" Through wise and selective shopping and picking the times for indulgences, we (two sisters) have discovered that we can have the best of both worlds............
By pedigree and talent, three men are natural bread bakers
Nicholas Hartner, 24, and his brother Ernie, 23, are Mancinis on their mother's side. They and their third-cousin, Reed Baker, 26, are related, five generations back, to Seven Baker Brothers, a Pittsburgh bakery that closed in the Depression, and, more recently, to Jenny Lee Bakery. The three share a common great-grandfather, Nicholas Baker, founder of Jenny Lee............
Restaurateur trucks bread from Mancini's of McKees Rocks to serve in North Carolina
For those who enjoy Mancini's bread made in Stowe, it's now available in South Carolina. That's right. Pittsburghers who travel to North Myrtle Beach for business or pleasure can get a sandwich made with Mancini's bread at Oscar's Food & Spirits............
A tasty jaunt through McKees Rocks
Pittsburgh probably has more Italian shops and restaurants per square mile than any city outside the Boot. Take a weekday morning or afternoon to explore and eat your way through the family-owned places in McKees Rocks, a working-class town just down the Ohio River............
Bakeries team up in Market Square
When news came last month that the Jenny Lee Bakery was closing, Nick Mancini Hartner was sad to hear his relatives were having business problems. But as the owner of a baking business himself, he also thought he might see an opportunity............
Shadyside's Prantl's, Mancini's take Jenny Lee's spot
The space vacated by hometown favorite Jenny Lee Bakery in Market Square has two new tenants that may also be familiar names to Pittsburghers with a taste for baked goods -- Prantl's Bakery and Mancini's Bread Co...........
Mancini's remains a tradition
A bakery worker knew what Jaclyn Leto wanted without her even asking. Spying the little girl's eyes hungrily following the hot rolls, the worker leaned over and handed her one. She picked at the hot crust gently, then took a huge bite. ...........