JIM CHRISTIANA FOR SENATE issued the following announcement on August 27.
Hey, you’re going to get pickle puns from a former stand-up comic like Mammone.
Though the 1999 Beaver High grad is absolutely serious about his new pickle line, Bridge City Brinery, where the focus is on the nuances of flavor and technique.
He explains most pickles are vinegar-based, and while Bridge City Brinery may consider making vinegar flavors in the future, the company’s flagship pickle and majority of any newly added flavors will be fermented.
“This is a unique way to make pickles. It pays homage to the traditional way pickles were made years ago,” Mammone, a sous chef and founder of the Pittsburgh-based Bridge City Brinery, said. “The cucumbers will be fermented in a homemade brine instead of soaked in vinegar. Fermented pickles are richer and more flavorful.”
Bridge City Brinery co-creator Joe Bardakos, a chef at chic Piccolo Forno in Lawrenceville, said, “What excites me, and should excite our customers, is the endless possibilities we have through fermentation.”
The popular pickle-making method before vinegar became widely available, fermentation creates a depth of flavor that vinegar cannot do on its own, Bardakos, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh, said.
Bridge City Brinery currently sells 16-ounce jars of Smithfield Sour Dill Pickles for $6. Orders are taken at bridgecitybrinery@gmail.com, from the contact section of the company’s website, BridgeCityBrinery.com, or through Instagram and Facebook at @BridgeCityBrinery
The company plans to add more flavors.
While they may be a bit green as a pickle entrepreneurs, Mammone and Bardakos bring to the table professional kitchen experience, culinary training and passion for good food.
"Joe and I have been working together at Piccolo Forno for seven months," Mammone, a Brighton Township native, said. "During the Covid outbreak it’s just been he and I in the kitchen working for the most part. We’ve definitely developed a strong friendship in the process, but we also work really well together. He brings a decade of kitchen experience that is worth so much to a startup food business. After culinary school when I decided to move home I knew I wanted to work in a popular spot. I couldn’t have imagined being the sous chef at one of Pittsburgh’s best restaurants."
Mammone started making pickles three years ago, perfecting a recipe that earned rave reviews from friends, and his chef instructor in culinary school.
"One day I came down to work a little frustrated and looked at Joe and just blurted out 'I’m starting the pickle business Sept. 1!' He looked at me for a minute and just said 'Cool. You want help?' and started investing time and money from the get go. It was a no-brainer to cut him in and make him a partner. I can’t believe how far we’ve come in just this last four weeks. It’s a little surreal."
Already, 200 jars have been sold. Mammone has always dreamed big. In 2013, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a stand-up comedy career. Four years later, his comedy special "Mark Mammone ...Who?" debuted on Amazon Prime. He performed at L.A.'s top comedy clubs, toured nationally, and did a New Year's Eve gig at the Improv in Pittsburgh, opening for Steve Byrne, before tiring of the comedy circuit.
Mammone pivoted to TV, working as a production assistant and stand-in for TV star Seth MacFarlane’s on the Fox sci-fi show “The Orville.” MacFarlane cast Mammone in a two-episode story arc in 2019.
But like a lot of us Western Pennsylvanians, a yearning for home ricocheted him back to Pittsburgh, where cooking, not comedy, is now his calling card.
So move over Heinz, there's a new pickle-maker in town. Bridge City Brinery says its old-fashioned brine method will make many rethink everything they've come to expect from a pickle.
"To put it simply, this product is the way pickles are supposed to be.
“If you love pickles you should try these,” Mammone said. “If you hate pickles, you absolutely have to try these.”
Original source here.
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