Stopped in today - was reminded about their existence due to Bill White's "Eat Your Way through Musikfest" challenge - a $5 coupon was in the swag bag if you were one of the first 100 people to complete the challenge. I’ve been driving by the place on occasion, and every time, I thought to myself, “I should stop in there sometime…”
I had the King Windsor sandwich today - 3.5 ounces of roast beef, large slice of Swiss cheese, fresh (!) leaf lettuce (may have been romaine), fresh sliced tomato, cole slaw, 1000 Island dressing on marble rye bread. Fresh!! It's a Friday, and many delis are working their way into the weekend and may be using up their supplies. Not the Windsor! This may have been the most perfect roast beef sandwich I have ever had. As noted above, the lettuce was fresh, the tomato was fresh, even the bread was fresh. The $6.00 price was worth every penny.
I talked to the owner; they also run the Food Stuff Inc. stands in Festplatz at Musikfest (the potato pancakes on the challenge are from there). I mentioned that most delis are running their stock down on Fridays; she said that they get everything in fresh every day. It shows; I hope they're around for a long time.
Unfortunately, due to the available kitchen space, the potato pancakes from Musikfest are not available at the deli (bummer!).
Try this place out - if you work in the area, they offer delivery with a minimum order of $15.00. I will be going back.
Service: Walk-up counter – my sandwich came out fast – 9 out of 10.
Ambience: Wood floors, some high tables, some low tables – think Starbucks, Einstein Bagels, and the like. Not loud, considering the hard surfaces – 9 out of 10.
Food: Sandwich, as noted above, was excellent. Pickle wedge and an individual bag of Utz chips were included (no stale chips!) – 10 out of 10.
Bar selection: N/A.
Price: Food - excellent. Drinks – a wide selection of Coca-cola 20 oz. soda products, Nestea products, juices, Calypso Lemonades, Vitamin Waters, V8 products, and Dasani waters. Prices for the bottled products range from $1.25 to $2.50; cans are available for $0.75. Drink prices seemed a little high, but on reflection versus the local mini-mart, not bad. – 9 out of 10.
Windsor Deli
7525 Tilghman Street, Suite 105
Allentown, PA 18106
Phone: (610) 481-0474
Fax: (610) 481-9401
Open Monday through Friday, 8AM – 6PM, Saturday 9AM – 3PM
Friday, August 8, 2008
Friday, May 23, 2008
Nathan's Philly Qualifier, Take Three (2008)
Tomorrow I attempt to make it to the IFOCE sanctioned Nathan's Famous July 4th Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, again. This will be my seventh (that's right, 7) attempt at qualifying, and I expect to come in third or possibly fourth. If it's a really good day, I may come in second, but Humble Bob Shoudt is expected to show, and I can't come anywhere close to his total tomorrow. So, I'll go, eat some hot dogs, collect my shirt, and look forward to the Shea Stadium qualifier on June 14 (oh, damn, I let out where I'm going to be) where I will be beaten by Tim "Eater X" Janus.
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Lightening up Mexican-Style Chicken with Penne
I adapted this recipe from the February 2008 issue of Food & Wine magazine, pages 88-89. The recipe originally called for 0.75 pounds of regular penne rigate, five tablespoons of olive oil, one pound of skinless, boneless chicken thighs, and 0.25 pounds of queso blanco.
First off, before the health police jump all over me, I KNOW olive oil is healthy and fairly good for you; however, in the interest of making this as HEALTHY and LOW CALORIE as possible, I sprayed the skillet with an olive oil spray and left the olive oil out. When the pan got too dry for my liking, I added a little low-sodium chicken broth, which I did not include in the calorie calculations.
I also substituted a new pasta product, Dreamfields – Healthy Carb Living, for the penne rigate, and I used the WHOLE BOX (16 ounces). Really, who uses 12 ounces of a 16 ounce box and then puts the rest aside? If you’re in a restaurant kitchen, where you buy things like penne rigate in bulk, then fine, but doing that at home leaves you with a whole bunch of different pastas in four ounce quantities. Then you have this urge to make macaroni and cheese and blow the whole healthy living, want to lose weight thing… but I digress. They claim that each serving (two ounces before cooking) has only five grams of digestible carbs. The key nutritition facts, calories, fat and fiber were 190, 1 gram and 5 grams, with 42 grams of total carbohydrates. A comparable regular white penne rigate has 210 calories, 1 gram of fat and 2 grams of fiber for each two ounce before cooking serving.
Since I made this recipe, I have compared various whole wheat pastas against the Dreamfields product, and they are comparable in calories, fat, and fiber, for about half the price.
The skinless, boneless chicken thighs are a better choice, health-wise without the skins, and would be slightly more flavorful, but I substituted skinless, boneless chicken breasts to save calories. I substituted 2% mozzarella as the recipe suggested for the queso blanco, as I was not near home and access to a market that sold queso blanco.
The instructions for the recipe pretty much stay the same as quoted from the magazine, with the exception of slopping the olive oil around.
Ingredients:
16 ounces Dreamfields penne rigate
Olive oil cooking spray
Low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch dice
Kosher salt (yeah, you can use regular)
Freshly ground pepper (buy a pepper mill, trust me – you don’t know what you’re missing)
1 onion, cut into ¼ inch dice (I used a 332 gram Mayan sweet)
1 large garlic clove, minched
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 large chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and minced, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
½ cup frozen corn
¼ pound 2% mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (1 cup)
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook until al dente. Drain the penne.
2. Meanwhile, spray a large, deep skillet with olive-oil cooking spray. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add a little chicken broth if the pan gets too dry. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened and the chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Once again, add a little chicken broth when the pan gets dry. Add the diced tomatoes, chipotle and adobo sauce and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the corn, season with salt and pepper and cook until the corn is heated through, about 1 minute.
3. Add the penne and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth to the sauce and toss to coat. Add 3 ounces of the mozzarella and toss. Transfer the pasta to bowls, sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and the cilantro and serve.
Makes 4 servings – big servings, over one pound each. My fiancé couldn’t finish hers.
Nutrition per serving as modified: 670 calories, 9.04 grams fat, and 13.43 grams fiber.
Nutrition per serving as originally made, with the addition of five tablespoons of olive oil, substitution of chicken thighs, regular white flour penne rigate (only 12 ounces in original recipe), and queso blanco: 780 calories, 31.94 grams of fat, and 6.43 grams fiber.
First off, before the health police jump all over me, I KNOW olive oil is healthy and fairly good for you; however, in the interest of making this as HEALTHY and LOW CALORIE as possible, I sprayed the skillet with an olive oil spray and left the olive oil out. When the pan got too dry for my liking, I added a little low-sodium chicken broth, which I did not include in the calorie calculations.
I also substituted a new pasta product, Dreamfields – Healthy Carb Living, for the penne rigate, and I used the WHOLE BOX (16 ounces). Really, who uses 12 ounces of a 16 ounce box and then puts the rest aside? If you’re in a restaurant kitchen, where you buy things like penne rigate in bulk, then fine, but doing that at home leaves you with a whole bunch of different pastas in four ounce quantities. Then you have this urge to make macaroni and cheese and blow the whole healthy living, want to lose weight thing… but I digress. They claim that each serving (two ounces before cooking) has only five grams of digestible carbs. The key nutritition facts, calories, fat and fiber were 190, 1 gram and 5 grams, with 42 grams of total carbohydrates. A comparable regular white penne rigate has 210 calories, 1 gram of fat and 2 grams of fiber for each two ounce before cooking serving.
Since I made this recipe, I have compared various whole wheat pastas against the Dreamfields product, and they are comparable in calories, fat, and fiber, for about half the price.
The skinless, boneless chicken thighs are a better choice, health-wise without the skins, and would be slightly more flavorful, but I substituted skinless, boneless chicken breasts to save calories. I substituted 2% mozzarella as the recipe suggested for the queso blanco, as I was not near home and access to a market that sold queso blanco.
The instructions for the recipe pretty much stay the same as quoted from the magazine, with the exception of slopping the olive oil around.
Ingredients:
16 ounces Dreamfields penne rigate
Olive oil cooking spray
Low-sodium chicken broth
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch dice
Kosher salt (yeah, you can use regular)
Freshly ground pepper (buy a pepper mill, trust me – you don’t know what you’re missing)
1 onion, cut into ¼ inch dice (I used a 332 gram Mayan sweet)
1 large garlic clove, minched
One 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 large chipotle in adobo sauce, seeded and minced, plus 2 teaspoons adobo sauce
½ cup frozen corn
¼ pound 2% mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated (1 cup)
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro leaves
Directions:
1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the penne and cook until al dente. Drain the penne.
2. Meanwhile, spray a large, deep skillet with olive-oil cooking spray. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, add it to the skillet and cook over moderately high heat until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Add a little chicken broth if the pan gets too dry. Add the onion and garlic and cook over moderate heat until the onion is softened and the chicken is cooked through, about 4 minutes. Once again, add a little chicken broth when the pan gets dry. Add the diced tomatoes, chipotle and adobo sauce and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. Add the corn, season with salt and pepper and cook until the corn is heated through, about 1 minute.
3. Add the penne and 2 tablespoons of chicken broth to the sauce and toss to coat. Add 3 ounces of the mozzarella and toss. Transfer the pasta to bowls, sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella and the cilantro and serve.
Makes 4 servings – big servings, over one pound each. My fiancé couldn’t finish hers.
Nutrition per serving as modified: 670 calories, 9.04 grams fat, and 13.43 grams fiber.
Nutrition per serving as originally made, with the addition of five tablespoons of olive oil, substitution of chicken thighs, regular white flour penne rigate (only 12 ounces in original recipe), and queso blanco: 780 calories, 31.94 grams of fat, and 6.43 grams fiber.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Wing Bowl 16 Musings, Part I
See me lose at Glen Macnow's Slack's Hoagie Shack Eat Off! We were eating The Godfather and Wild Thing subs, two seven minute rounds. The sub sections were supposed to be two inches, but four sections of each sub were about three inches wide, so for each four sections you ate, you ate a foot-long sub. I almost didn't make the second round; only four contestants would advance, but there was a three way tie after the first round for third place. I ate eight sections in the first round, tying for third, and ate six sections in the second round, placing second overall. Michael Sarian, who was in Wing Bowl 15 as Curly Von Burly, The Viking Pig, took first place with 16 sections.
Here's the link to the video:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/wingbowl/wingbowl_in/13731487.html
Here's the link to the video:
http://www.philly.com/philly/sports/wingbowl/wingbowl_in/13731487.html
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Nathan's Philly Qualifier
Ok, so I'm a little slow at updating my blog. This past weekend, I competed in the Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier in Philadelphia, PA. This contest marked the one-year anniversary of my competitive eating career. My numbers in HDBs (Hot Dogs w/ Buns) have improved considerably since that first contest; my total at that qualifier last year was 11.5, this year it was 16.5, a 43% increase. However, it was only 0.5 dogs better than my personal best of 16.
My next attempt will be at the Molly Pitcher Travel Plaza on the NJ Turnpike in Cranbury, NJ. This contest is midday on Friday, June 22, 2007. As always, I'm going to attempt to do the deuce (20 HDBs or better), but I would be happy with just beating my personal best again.
I have no illusions about making it to the Nathan's finals this year; the wild card will probably be in the 23 to 25 range, judging from the numbers I'm seeing.
My next attempt will be at the Molly Pitcher Travel Plaza on the NJ Turnpike in Cranbury, NJ. This contest is midday on Friday, June 22, 2007. As always, I'm going to attempt to do the deuce (20 HDBs or better), but I would be happy with just beating my personal best again.
I have no illusions about making it to the Nathan's finals this year; the wild card will probably be in the 23 to 25 range, judging from the numbers I'm seeing.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
Looper's Review
Well, since this blog is called Wild Bill's Food Thoughts, how about a restaurant review? I went to Looper's Bar and Grille at 313 East 3rd Street in Bethlehem PA on Tuesday, March 13, 2007. Noticing that they had Guinness on tap (yum!), I order one and perused the menu. As a fan of burgers, I ordered a Blues Burger, which comes with chips, or for 75 cents extra you can get fries on the side. The burger was ordered medium rare.
While I waited, I looked around the place. The bar occupies the front half of the space, which appears to have been a narrow (<12 feet) storefront at some point in the past. With the bar chairs and the standing tables in front of the long leather banquette facing the bar, I had a little trouble navigating between the chairs and the tables with my girth. My visit occurred over lunch; all the tables (approximately 12) in the back half of the restaurant were occupied, so I took up residence on the banquette at one of the standing tables.
The bar appeared to be well stocked. It appears they are going for an Irish pub / golf themed restaurant (like the name Looper’s wasn’t enough of a clue; however, a looper means something different to the steel industry (more on that later)).
My burger arrived, with about a half pound of crinkle cut Ore-ida style fries (well, they were only 75 cents – fresh cut would have at least cost $1.50). The burger was 1/3 pound of meat, on a Kaiser-style roll that was softer than I expected and made me suspect that perhaps they were baking them on the premises. The burger came with a tomato slice and green leaf lettuce. The Blues Burger meant that it was topped with blue cheese that had been melted on top of the burger and then a Creole blue cheese sauce was added. The chef got the medium rare just right – cooked on the outside, a cool pink on the inside. Verdict on the burger: excellent, if a little small compared to the burger’s I’ve been seeing lately. They do have the Big Bertha burger, which is two 1/3 lb patties. The fries were good, probably just because they were deep fried instead of baked like you would do at home.
Then the bill came; $13.50. I didn’t expect a pint of Guinness to cost me $6.00, but one of the reviews on the internet had said that they were known for their martinis, which were pricey.
Overall, a good experience.
Service: A little slow – 7 out of 10.
Ambience: Cozy – 8 out of 10.
Food: Excellent burger, so-so fries – 7 out of 10.
Bar selection: Good – 8 out of 10.
Price: Food, excellent. Drinks, a little pricey – 7 out of 10.
Note: Apparently, from a little research on the web, a “looper” at Bethlehem Steel was a management trainee who worked their way up from the line.
While I waited, I looked around the place. The bar occupies the front half of the space, which appears to have been a narrow (<12 feet) storefront at some point in the past. With the bar chairs and the standing tables in front of the long leather banquette facing the bar, I had a little trouble navigating between the chairs and the tables with my girth. My visit occurred over lunch; all the tables (approximately 12) in the back half of the restaurant were occupied, so I took up residence on the banquette at one of the standing tables.
The bar appeared to be well stocked. It appears they are going for an Irish pub / golf themed restaurant (like the name Looper’s wasn’t enough of a clue; however, a looper means something different to the steel industry (more on that later)).
My burger arrived, with about a half pound of crinkle cut Ore-ida style fries (well, they were only 75 cents – fresh cut would have at least cost $1.50). The burger was 1/3 pound of meat, on a Kaiser-style roll that was softer than I expected and made me suspect that perhaps they were baking them on the premises. The burger came with a tomato slice and green leaf lettuce. The Blues Burger meant that it was topped with blue cheese that had been melted on top of the burger and then a Creole blue cheese sauce was added. The chef got the medium rare just right – cooked on the outside, a cool pink on the inside. Verdict on the burger: excellent, if a little small compared to the burger’s I’ve been seeing lately. They do have the Big Bertha burger, which is two 1/3 lb patties. The fries were good, probably just because they were deep fried instead of baked like you would do at home.
Then the bill came; $13.50. I didn’t expect a pint of Guinness to cost me $6.00, but one of the reviews on the internet had said that they were known for their martinis, which were pricey.
Overall, a good experience.
Service: A little slow – 7 out of 10.
Ambience: Cozy – 8 out of 10.
Food: Excellent burger, so-so fries – 7 out of 10.
Bar selection: Good – 8 out of 10.
Price: Food, excellent. Drinks, a little pricey – 7 out of 10.
Note: Apparently, from a little research on the web, a “looper” at Bethlehem Steel was a management trainee who worked their way up from the line.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Wing Bowl 15 Musings
Well, Wing Bowl 15 is now over... congratulations to all the eaters who were permitted to compete. Kudos to Joey, Pat, and Sonya for coming in 1, 2, and 3, even with the possibly questionable judging (like that's anything different for this farce).
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