Vogt’s Deli offers sit-down dining and takeout, too

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN CYNTHIA MARTENS
The staff at Vogt’s Deli counter are ready with smiling faces to take your orders-to eat a meal in the convenient dining area or to take out.

“If you’ve never tried Vogt’s Deli before, you really need to experience it,” said Cheryl Sullivan, deli clerk and cook. “We’re always happy to take care of the customer’s needs.”

Sullivan is one of about six staff working at the deli, a convenience added when Vogt’s grocery moved to a new building at Hillsboro Heights and officially opened about one year ago. Deli manager is Kathy Arnold.

Owner Jerold Vogt said, “When we came out here, we decided to add a few more services. The deli is another option that they can pick a lunch up and go-for carry out, or you can eat here at the tables.”

The Vogt family has been in the grocery business since 1933, and Jerold and wife Karleen have owned it since 1973.

The new deli operates under the motto “Quick meals…and we’re cooking! Come join us!”

The deli counter offers a cold section of lunch meats and cheese, vegetable salads, baked beans and dessert salads. The hot section contains fried chicken and chicken tenders available daily, potatoes and featured daily entrees.

“Some delis just have sandwiches,” Vogt said. “We can make sandwiches, but we have other things, like the hot meals.”

The daily deli features are available as meal deals for $4.99. They include the daily entree served with a choice of two sides, a roll and a medium fountain drink.

“The sides can be macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes and gravy, potato wedges, or any of the salads in the cold deli,” Sullivan said. “The rolls are made fresh here every day.”

A side choice can also include a dessert, guaranteed to be available when Sullivan is behind the counter.

“When I’m personally cooking, especially in the day time, I make a homemade cherry or apple crisp,” Sullivan said. “Today, I made an apple-berry crisp. That was made with apples, blueberries and strawberries.”

The meal deal entrees are usually as follows:

– Chicken tenders made with 100 percent white meat are available every day. Also offered on a daily basis are either pork tenders or beef tenders, tenderized and breaded.

“We rotate pork tenders with beef tenders every other day,” Sullivan said. “They’re for sandwiches, but some people get them with gravy on them, like a chicken-fried steak.”

– A Stouffer’s meat loaf-just like mom’s-is available on Mondays.

“We put our own glaze over the top and bake it for that day,” Sullivan said.

– Manager’s choice is on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Deep-fat-fried fish fillets often show up on Fridays. Other manager specials include taste-tempting treats, such as goulash and chicken casserole.

“We have a big variety of things on those days,” Sullivan said.

– Mexican Day is on Wednesdays.

“On Mexican Day, you have a choice of nacho-beef bake, burritos, crispitos or mini tacos,” Sullivan said. “The mini tacos are also sold six for $1 on Wednesdays. You can actually buy everything individually as well as a meal.”

– Lasagna is frequently offered on Thursdays.

“If you like Italian, the lasagna is excellent,” Sullivan said. “I can’t even make homemade that well.”

– Saturday is usually casserole day, or other favorite weekly specials may show up again that day.

– The Sunday feature is barbecue brisket or barbecue baby-back ribs.

The two most popular meal deals appear to be the lasagna and Mexican entrees.

Sullivan said the entrees prepared with a down-home flavor are one reason the deli has continued to grow in popularity.

“I personally like all the meals we have here,” she said. “I would gladly serve them to my family. We’ve had a real good response to the food. We have people who come back every week for their favorite dinners.”

In the cold deli case, customers can choose from three potato salads-regular, mustard and red potato. Other salads include three-bean, four-bean and cranberry-apple.

“We also have baked beans, and they’re the best baked beans I’ve ever tasted,” Sullivan said. “They are the closest to my secret recipe from home. I recommend them to all my customers.”

Possibly giving a certain colonel a run for his money, the deli fried chicken is sold by the piece. It can also be picked up as eight pieces of chicken for $6.59 or an eight-piece chicken meal for $11.99.

“That’s a whole chicken, and it comes with two one-pound sides and four rolls,” Sullivan said.

Fried-chicken is available in the deli case during deli hours, but for large orders, Sullivan suggests calling ahead.

“If you want a 16-piece chicken, I would suggest you call ahead,” she said. “I’d say call about 30 minutes before you want to pick it up. It will be hot and boxed up and waiting for you.”

When eating at home, Sullivan said the following recipe from her daughter’s kitchen is one of her favorites:

Mexican Goulash

2 1/2 pounds hamburger, browned and drained

2 jars salsa

1 package 10-inch flour tortillas, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 package grated Mexican three-cheese (2-3 cups or to taste)

Mix all ingredients together in large electric skillet. Heat through and serve hot.

“When money is tight, this is a good economical recipe,” Sullivan said. “It’s basically a one-pan dinner, and it’s very, very good. It goes a long way.”

For the deli customers who want typical deli sandwiches, they can choose from a variety of meats and cheeses on a kaiser or hogie bun.

“We’ll make the sandwiches for them,” Sullivan said. “If we put them on a hogie, there’s 4 ounces of meat, 4 ounces of cheese and the bun-all for $2.99.”

The most popular deli meats are Canadian maple ham, smoked turkey, Virginia ham and Cajun turkey, Sullivan said.

“And the most popular cheeses are baby Swiss, American and Munster. We also have the best coleslaw around. I used to think KFC was the best, but they can’t hold a candle to what we have. It’s very good coleslaw.”

The deli seating area includes three tables and 12 chairs. With south light streaming in the window, it invites a steady crowd of business people at lunch time.

“I’ve seen all three tables filled then,” Sullivan said. “We usually see most people coming in between 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.”

Vogt said the deli take-out traffic is heavy on Sundays.

“There’s a lot of take-out meals that day,” he said. “And a lot of the older people, who are by themselves and don’t want to cook, they’ll come out and get something to take home.”

Morning coffee crowds also appear to take advantage of the seating area at the deli-pausing to sit down with coffee and a doughnut from the Vogt bakery case.

“There’s a lot more people on the highways,” Vogt said. “We get a lot of people stopping by that are traveling.”

Travelers, business people, a coffee crowd and even busy couples with two-income families seem to be taking advantage of the convenience of the Vogt’s deli.

“There’s just more people working these days,” Vogt said. “There’s more women working now than before. When they weren’t working, they had more time to fix meals.”

And maybe they also like the friendly atmosphere at the deli.

“I enjoy working here because we have good people,” Sullivan said. “We work as a team, and everybody helps out. And people come in with friendly smiles and friendly faces, too.”

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