In this edition of Pottstown Foodie: Gazzo’s Steaks ships far and away. Opa Vera’s is back from vacation. Panda Express goes extra spicy. Chipotle is playing games customers can win. One of the continent’s largest mushroom growers, South Mill Champs in Chester County, adds distribution points.
Gazzo’s Steaks Ships Its Sandwich Love Afar
POTTSTOWN PA – Getting a food gift from your neighborhood, far away, may be nearly as good as going home yourself. Gazzo’s Steaks, 22 S. Hanover St., Pottstown, is putting that proposition to the test.
Most area restaurants offer either their own service, or that of third parties, for the customer convenience of local deliveries. Several places in greater Pottstown also send cherished items from their menus over far longer distances, to both well-known and obscure locations.
Gazzo’s is among them. A post Monday (Aug. 19) on its Facebook page reports its newest sales and shipping story. The restaurant uses a simple, two-color U.S. map to illustrate demand for its foods beyond Pennsylvania.
“This week,” the restaurant announced, “we have Gazzos Steaks landing in Chandler AZ, Manchester MD, Woodbury NJ, Encinitas CA, Avondale GA, Los Angeles CA, Greenville SC, Bradenton FL, Kirkland WA, Las Vegas NV, (and) La Follette TN.”
As part of its business model, Gazzo’s has established an online ordering website that ships its products in bulk. It’s sending out three-packs of several different full-size cheese steaks (each feeding 3-6 people), packages of pierogies, and even its logo T-shirts.
The sandwiches “are made to order, frozen, and shipped” in special packaging with accompanying dry ice. Gazzo’s provides thawing and re-heating instructions. It’s also working on more shipping options, it adds.
According to more than 40 comments on the post (as of Tuesday, Aug. 20), orders have been placed by parents for their college students, children for their parents, friends for other friends, and cousins for cousins. At least one, according to commenters, served as a birthday surprise.
Map graphic from the Facebook page of Gazzo’s Steaks
Opa Vera’s Crew Back from Vacation
POTTSTOWN PA – Aug. 9 (Friday) was expected to be a big day for management and staff at Opa Vera’s Restaurant, 1483 N. Charlotte St., Pottstown. That’s when they were scheduled to re-open the restaurant, following a vacation that began July 4 (lucky them!)
Opa Vera’s is known for its comprehensive offering of Greek dishes and specialty items. The restaurant’s online menu Saturday (Aug. 17) happily declared they’re “open now.”
Blazing Chicken Favorite Back at Panda Express
POTTSTOWN PA – A regional market test last fall (2023) for “Blazing Bourbon Chicken” is paying off for the Panda Express restaurant chain. The hot, hot, hot item is being added nationally to its menus beginning Sept. 4 (Wednesday). It operates locally in the Upland Square Shopping Center, 218 Upland Square Dr., Pottstown.
The entrée, a spin on classic bourbon chicken, contains crispy boneless chicken bites and fresh veggies. They are wok-tossed in a spicy and sweet bourbon sauce laden with “Hot Ones The Last Dab” Apollo hot sauce, and topped by sesame seeds. Beware: Panda Express says it’s the spiciest dish at its counter, according to QSR Magazine.
Above photo provided by Panda Express and Hot Ones The Last Dab
Playing With Your Food (Trivia) at Chipotle
NEWPORT BEACH CA – Let’s say you enjoy Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants. And maybe you know more than a little about how and what dishes it makes. Maybe you’re even a fan of trivia battles? If you said “yes” to all three, be aware the chain is bringing back its Chipotle IQ trivia game.
It officially re-started Tuesday (Aug. 20). The game tests knowledge of menu ingredients, food standards, culinary techniques, sustainability, brand history, and community engagement. It features multiple choice, true-false questions, and write-in answers. Enough correct answers wins free food.
Chipotle operates locally in Pottstown, Royersford, Douglassville, King of Prussia, and Reading.
More Mushrooms, More of the Time, with Acquisition
KENNETT SQUARE PA – A Chester-County based company that is among the largest mushroom growers in North America is expanding again.
South Mill Champs of Kennett Square on Thursday (Aug. 15, 2024) said it acquired “substantially all of the assets” of Baird Produce in Tampa FL. Baird is located in the Tampa Wholesale Produce Market, near another South Mill Champs distribution facility. Buying Baird, the company reports, allows it to “provide quality, fresh mushrooms efficiently” in Florida.
Last year it acquired World Fresh Produce in New Jersey to supply its U.S. and international customers with “specialty seasonal produce alongside their mushroom needs.”
Above photo by Ed Zbarzhyvetsky on Deposit Photos, used by Travels With The Post under license
“Pottstown Foodie” is a public Facebook page operated by The Post Publications and its Travels With The Post edition.
Early Week Stuff Aug. 19-21