Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!

Posts Tagged ‘Deli’

(Spoiler alert) I have missed out by not being a customer of Potbelly.I painted them with the “same brush” that I have used against a couple of their competitors that I truly don’t like, and that wasn’t fair.

I was recently contemplating a visit when coincidentally the company invited me in for a taste.

At our table was the broccoli cheese soup, an “Italian” sandwich, the “Mediterranean” Sandwich, 2 bags of Zapp’s Potato Chips, a mixed berry smoothie, and a chocolate chip cookie.

Wow. Seriously. Wow.

Name your favorite sub chain and know that Potbelly is better food and a much more enjoyable experience.

You’ll notice it the minute you walk in, subdued lighting, lively music(including live performances), seating and tables designed for comfort not to see how fast a place can flip a table……….and then there is the food.

If you’re ordering a sandwich, you have a choice of a regular roll, whole wheat or flatbread (gluten free), and you can order a half or whole, from the menu suggestions or design your own. Wanna double up on the meat, you can!

The rolls are fresh every morning from Chicago’s beloved Turano Baking; they’ve been around for over half a century. As I said earlier, I went with the “Italian,” capicola, mortadella, pepperoni, salami, and provolone cheese, slipped into the oven, served warm and melty. You can choose from any or all of these condiments at no charge: Mayo, Brown Deli Mustard, Hot Peppers, Lettuce, Onion, Tomato, Pickle, Oil, and Italian Seasoning. The vegetables are ultra fresh.

Sides include  chips, cole slaw, macaroni salad, potato salad, and whole pickles. (They carry a good selection of Zapp’s potato chips, a New Orleans favorite). Salads are available and customizable, and there are daily soup specials as well as chili, their best selling broccoli cheddar, and a new favorite, siracha black bean (which is vegan). Finish off your meal with made to order shakes and smoothies, or a fresh baked cookie.

A bit about Potbelly – it started as a single restaurant on Chicago’s near north side; it operated successfully as a single location for many years, until 1996, when entrepreneur Bryant Keil purchased the shop, updated and standardized the offerings and operation, and built Potbelly to have over 300 outlets in the U.S.

Some locations deliver, any of them can arrange to serve your office party, school, team, or church gathering, or family reunions. A typical order form looks like this, and you can fax it in.

The ‘dining in’ menu lists all your choices, and you can find the nearest Potbelly with their locator.

The location I visited was in the suburban Chicago burg of Algonquin, and is capably and cheerfully managed by Dan Horwath. He knows his product well, and is so enthusiastic about the company he will undoubtedly climb the corporate ladder quickly.

Italian Sandwich with Broccoli Cheese Soup!

Potbelly Sandwich Review

Ed Note.  Potbelly comped the meal.

Geez, I just get finished with my “deli roast beef” smackdown, and I run into Certified Angus Brand on sale, which I previously had skipped over. Certified is a brand that was created by a group of Angus ranchers in the late 70s, who wanted to produce a higher quality product, held to higher standards.

This is a good one, deserving to be in the top 5, if not top 3; clearly “whole muscle” meat, and by the taste and texture, lacking the dreaded “injected solution.”

I like it.  I’ll be back. Here’s where to find Certified Angus Brand products, at stores and restaurants.

Certified Angus Brand Corned Beef

Certfied Angus Brand Deli Corned Beef

I’ve been trying out a lot of deli meats, lately, mostly pastrami and corned beef. I’m a fairly big snob / choosy about what I buy, eschewing the more inexpensive brands, which tend to be what I refer to commonly as “chopped, pressed, and form,” meat and other additives reconstituted to resemble roasts.  I much prefer companies that use whole muscle meats for their deli offerings, like NY’s Carnegie and Chicago’s Vienna Beef.

Today I picked up a pound of Hormel Roast Beef ($6.99 a pound, Wal Mart), and upon investigation of the packaging, and noting the USDA establishment number (15835), I find this product is produced and packaged for Hormel by a company called  Dan’s Prize, in Long Prairie, MN.  Dan’s Prize was started in the 80s; Long Prairie is in the middle of the state, about 3.5 hours NW of Hormel headquarters in Austin, Minnesota.

The taste and texture of the meat is acceptable, and my only red flag is the printing on the front of the package “contains isolated soybean proteins.”  Upon further investigation, this is a powder used to emulate flavor in food products, and are a highly concentrated form of protein.  They were developed nearly 80 years ago for industrial purposes, mainly as (wait for it) adhesives for paper coatings.  Yum.

If you choose to shop the deli counter at most Wal Marts, your brand selection is pretty narrow.  Most of the product is Prima Della (Wal Mart’s house brand) (also made by a variety of contract manufacturers), at the store I stopped at today, in addition to the one Hormel product, there were about half a dozen Sara Lee deli meats.

They don’t stock any of the premium national brands at the service deli, however you may find some pre-packaged items elsewhere in the store.

Would I buy the Hormel beef again?  Well, most likely, it’s a fair price, and as I said, the taste and texture are palatable. And who can’t use a little more paper coasting adhesive in their diet?  Pix of Dan’s Prize factory below.

Hormel Deli Roast Beef Review

I have been on a mission lately on corned beef and pastrami, haven’t I?  Last week, it was WalMart’s house brand, and I’ve previously covered Dietz & Watson, Vienna Beef, and others.  This week, it’s up to sausage town Milwaukee, to cover one of their iconic brands, Klement’s, which was on sale at one of my local groceries for $6.99 a pound, almost half the price of national brands.

Klement’s is full of rich flavor and has a fairly nice texture/chewability.

Ingredients and nutrition are not found on the Klement’s site, unfortunately.

The product is showing a little of that iridescent one occasionally sees on sliced meat, which naturally occurs when the iron in meat comes in contact with a knife or slicer resulting in a slight oxidation.  The sharper the knife or slicer, the more brilliant the colors.

Klement’s can go on my ‘regular’ list, especially when it’s at this price point. Chicago’s Vienna Beef remains my number one choice, preferred for its texture.

I’m working up to trying to make corned beef and pastrami at home; any suggestions would surely be appreciated.  If you have a craving and want to order quality corned beef or other meat products, just click over to our Amazon shop.

Klements Corned Beef Review

Another bargain from Aldi’s (locator)  this week was their “Lunch Mate” brand hard salami at $2.99 for an 8 ounce resealable pack, making is $6 per pound.  Compare with your grocery deli counter, and you almost always save 30-50%.

The product is made by Patrick Cuhahy’s Wisconsin plant, USDA establishment 28.    Cudahy, founded in 1888, is a brand that is part of the John Morrell Food Group, which is in turn, owned by Smithfield, which is now owned by Chinese investors.  Many, many Smithfield/Morrell sub-brands come through this factory, here’s just a few:

Armour Food Company, Armour-Echrich Meats, LLC Butterball, Carando, Carolina Turkey, Cook’s Ham, Inc,. Country Lean, Curly’s Food Inc., Decker Food Company, Eastbay Packing Co,. Farmland Foods, Inc., Farmstead, Gwaltney Hunter, Krey Packing Co,. Hunter Packing Co., John Morrell & Co., Kneip, Krakus Foods International, Kretschmar Brands, Inc., Krey Packing Co. Lakeview Lundy’s Maple River Brand Mohawk Provision, Inc. Moseys, Northside Foods OhSe Partridge Meats, Inc. Patrick Cudahy Peyton Packing Co., Inc. Premium Farms, Premium Pet Health, Premium Standard Farms, Quick-To-Fix, Racorn, Inc., Rath Blackhawk, Inc., RMH Foods, Rodeo Meats, Inc., Roegelein Selective Petfood Services, Inc, Smithfield Foods, Inc., Smithfield Packing Co., Spring Hill Brand, Stefano Foods, Tobin’s First Prize Meat Co., Valleydale, Inc.

The salami is a thin sliced, slightly-smoked,  pork and beef product with seasonings and the usual curatives. It’s quite flavorful, and I said above, a really good value.  Cudahy makes a pepperoni (under their name) I like, too, which is often value-priced at the market.

Cudahy is currently planning to expand the plant, located just between the Milwaukee airport and the shore of Lake Michicgan.  Pictures of the plant below from Google street view (if accurate).

Hungry now?  Here are some salamis that ship.

Lunch Mate Hard Salami Review

Ran into a product I hadn’t seen before, a boneless half  ham from Frick’s Meat, a purveyor from Washington, MO (about 40 miles west of St. Louis, halfway between I-70 on the north, and I-44 on the south.  Frick’s has been around for nearly a century and a quarter, and manufacturers processed pork products, including hams, bacon, and sausages.

Family owned and operated for four generations, the products are widely distributed.   The ham is fully cooked in the wrapper, but has a 10-15% shrinkage when pan-fried.

This is a product I really enjoyed, other than the price, but I have that objection to all meat  these days.

My favorite hams are the naturally cured ones for a long period of time from Virginia, especially the biscuit-sized pieces, which aren’t available in the stores near me, but I order by mail a couple times a year.

The hams are processed at Frick’s factory in Washington, MO at 360 M. E. Frick Drive.  The factory is pictured below.

Frick Meat Factory, Washington, MO

Frick Meat Factory, Washington, MO

Fricks Ham Review

If you’re even an occasional reader of this site, you know two things for sure –  I have a diminishing interest in purchasing most ‘deli meats’ because of real or perceived notion they aren’t ‘real.’  By that I am generally referring to two things –  ‘roasts’ that are formed from meat and other ingredients into a shape that is easy for uniform slicing and appearance, and also the growing trend to enhance weight and flavor with injections of brine solutions, which I personally feel just ruins the texture of real meat muscle.

The second thing you would be aware of as a regular visitor here is that I am fond of the products made by Chicago’s premier hot dog manufacturer, Vienna Beef.  They make  great hot dogs, sausages, and a compliment of condiments.  So I thought I would try out their deli corned beef and pastrami.

In the deli counter, the roasts appeared to be whole muscle briskets.  The price currently exceeds $14 per pound.  Examining the ingredients, there does not appear to be any fillers or brine, and it looks like  a whole roast, when sliced, as the slices are not uniform in appearance, as far as both shape and fat content.  I inquired of Vienna about the composition and ingredients of these two deli products, but they did not reply.

I’m gonna guess, and hope, that they are whole muscle cuts.  My only reservation is the price, but all meats are stupid priced these days.  If you’re making an overstuffed sandwich, with 8 ounces of meat, it breaks down like this:  a pound each of pastrami and corned beef, roughly $31.  One half pound of cheese, $6.00.  Rye bread.  $3.  Sauerkraut $0.00, as I make it myself.   So $40 /  4 sandwiches?  $10 a pop.  Wow.

Course go to any large city deli, and the same serving will cost between $17 – $27.  Wow even more.  BTW?  You see the ‘iridescent’ quality in the top slice of meat below?  Over the past 20 years, I must have asked dozens of people what causes that, and never received a satisfactory answer.  Do you know?

Look for Vienna Beef products in your favorite grocery deli counter;  we have some great corned beef  whole brisket or slices from Omaha, and pastrami from the Bay Area’s favorite meat company, Saag, in our little store; for something a little different, try Montreal Smoked Meat.   Appreciate your reading and business.

Pastrami (top) and Corned Beef Slices

Corned Beef & Pastrami Combo Reuben

Vienna Beef Corned Beef and Pastrami

My mom used to make me braunschweiger and mustard sandwiches to tote to school on occasion. Braunschweiger is a Midwestern term for liverwurst, which in the south is also called “Kentucky Pate.”

The sandwiches were a respite from the steady diet of bologna, PB&J, and that crappy lunch meat that came in plastic packages, ham, turkey, roast beef, like 49 cents a package for paper thin slices, that all tasted the same, but were different colors. Don’t even think about getting me started when she went on the yogurt kick.

I pretty much thought all liverwurst was the same. Looks the same. Mostly packaged the same, so I’ve been buying whichever one is on sale.

This week it was “Field” Brand, made by Specialty Foods Group of Owensboro, KY. Think I have a new favorite. First two  ingredients on the package are pork liver and pork. Then comes the ‘contains less than 2% listing’….perfectly acceptable. Liverwurst is occasionally smoked, and is stuffed into natural or artificial casings.

Liverwurst is kind of like a pate, but a little less spreadable. I generally slice it off, still in the wrapper to keep its shape, peel the wrappers, and place circles of the spread between two slices of (still) white bread. Yellow mustard rules. Sometimes sliced raw onion. It does have a distinctly liver taste, but not like the pukey liver and onions stuff, more like chopped chicken liver at a top-notch Jewish deli.

In any regards, it’s one of my occasional comfort foods.

Specialty Foods is a conglomeration of different brands, some dating back one hundred years or more. Field is one of them, as are Kentucky Legend, and Chicago’s Scott Petersen.

They apparently sell a lot of hams, and if you’re not planning on being on the turkey hotline during the holidays, Specialty has a ham hotline to answer every single question you have about preparing and serving ham, including recipes for leftovers.

Check out where to buy their products with their locator.

SFG’s plant is USDA facility # M7467-P7467 and is located at 6 Dublin Lane in Owensboro. Pix below.  In the mood to purchase some other meats?  Burgers, dogs, or pizza?  Go. Buy.

SFG Plant, Owensboro, KY

SFG Plant, Owensboro, KY Aerial View

Field Liverwurst Review