Just twenty minutes from the city of Brotherly Love is a brand new peanut butter eatery called PBandU. Flanked by adorable cafes and boutiques on a friendly and vibrant main street in Wayne, PA, PBandU was packed with families and couples when we stopped in to try their raved about ‘Creations’.
I ordered a PB with apples and bananas on toasted whole wheat and a chocolate PB fondue with apples and pretzels to dip. With a big glass of soy milk, my three year old and I devoured both. We shared a white peanut butter shaped table with PBandU owner, Mercury Amodio.
PTV: What’s the secret to really awesome peanut butter?
MA: The secret to really awesome peanut butter is having it made fresh and adding as few ingredients as possible. Not everyone has the time, materials or equipment to do that – so we provide it for them. I like seeing kids eat our peanut butter because I know that what they’re eating wasn’t jammed full of preservatives.
PTV: PBandU opened the final weekend of summer 2010, with you at the helm. Tell me about PBandU!
MA: PBandU is an alternative to the traditional fast food we see everyday. We are fast, yes, but I’m comfortable actually calling what we serve food. We make our peanut butter on site and pair it with fun, savory and sweet options for kids and adults!
PTV: You made a conscious effort to look into having a non-dairy alternative, chocolate without milk fat, etc. As a veg-friendly eatery, was it difficult to source these products?
MA: Our peanut butter is made from honey roasted peanuts – so it’s not strict vegan. But I absolutely did make a conscious effort to make sure there were options for the “part time vegan” if you will. Semi sweet morsels without milk fat were difficult to find in bulk – I had to have them special ordered! I also made sure that there was a milk alternative (soy milk) – everybody loves to have a glass of milk with a PB sandwich and that certainly applies to vegans too!
PTV: What are some of your veg-friendly options on the menu?
MA: We have tons of toppings that can be used in our creations: apples, celery, carrots, semi sweet morsels, bananas, pickles, pretzels, raisins…the list goes on. Check out our entire menu online at www.pbandu.com, and our daily specials!
PTV: What’s your favorite item offered?
MA: My favorite sandwich to eat right now is actually creamy peanut butter on toasted Wonderbread with potato chips and drizzled honey. Oh man, I want one now!
PTV: As a mom to be, it was important to you for PBandU to be family-friendly.
MA: Even before I knew that I was pregnant it was very important to me to have PBandU be as kid/family/parent friendly as possible. We have a kids’ area with toys that I made sure were approved for ages 2 and up. This was my way of giving parents a break while still feeling good about the food they were giving their kids.
PTV: You have vegan/ vegetarian friends. Has there been anything particular influential about their lifestyle?
MA: Absolutely. I’m certainly influenced by the fact that it doesn’t have to be such a big deal to offer veg friendly options. I just had to extend my reach a little bit more, ask some questions and educate myself.
Not only did I want to make sure that I had vegan/vegetarian alternatives on the PBandU menu but it also opened my eyes to other dietary restrictions. It was important to me to have gluten free bread available too.
PTV: Anything else I may have not asked you want to share?
MA: Just that I’m always open to emails and suggestions from the community. I can’t make any promises but I will do my best, research and look into the requests. It’s important to me that the guest feels like they were heard and respected.
