Tatamy’s new takeout spot offers ‘quick, convenient and delicious’ eats
The holidays are upon us, and whether you’re in a frenzy due to baking, shopping, decorating or all of the above, a new Northampton County eatery wants to lighten your culinary load and help you recharge.
Tatamy Takeout, a to-go establishment offering madeto-order food and drinks for breakfast, lunch and dinner, is set to open Monday at 70 S. Eighth St. in Tatamy.
Customers will be able to place orders online, by phone or at the restaurant via a cashier or self-serve kiosk.
An app was developed for guests to download and accrue discounts with each order and also set a specific time to pick up their orders. Customers will receive their orders through counter pickup, curbside pickup or home delivery.
“Being able to specify when you plan to pick up your food allows us to start preparing the food at the appropriate time to ensure it’s hot and fresh upon pickup,” said Mike Lordi, Tatamy Takeout’s director of operations. “It’s also convenient for customers who want to place an order several hours in advance. For example, maybe you just want to pick up a cup of coffee in the morning. You can order that the night before and set 7:05 a.m. or whatever time you want for pickup. We’ll have it ready for you, and it will be very quick process.”
Building and restaurant owner Bill Farrell enlisted Lordi, a longtime Applebee’s manager and owner of Strategic Restaurant Consulting, to open Tatamy Takeout.
Lordi designed the restaurant, ordered the kitchen equipment and hired a staff of about 14 employees. He also developed the menu, which features rotating soups, salads,
hard and soft tacos, quesadillas, burgers, specialty hot dogs and more.
Breakfast, which will be served 7-11 a.m. daily, will feature about 10 varieties of bagels delivered daily from New York, egg sandwiches (with choice of meat and cheese) and about a dozen sweet and savory crepes, including Nutella and banana, strawberry shortcake, ham and cheese and caprese.
Other menu highlights will include sandwiches such as a cheesesteak, Italian hero and Buffalo chicken sandwich; hot dogs such as nacho, reuben and Memphis (applewood-smoked bacon, shredded cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce); and sides such as disco fries and mozzarella cheese fries.
Ten burgers, available with regular or gluten-free buns, include varieties such as French dip (roast beef and sweet yellow onions soaked in au jus sauce, topped with provolone cheese) and breakfast
(American cheese, pork roll, bacon, ketchup and over-medium egg).
“Our burgers will be high-quality and never frozen,” Lordi said. “They’ll also be 4-ounce patties — not huge, 8- or 12-ounce patties — and that’s because we want to be quick, convenient and delicious. Customers will be able to order burgers as a double, but we devised the menu so that everything has a cook time of 5 minutes or less.”
For customers looking for a cup of joe, the business partnered with Ottsville’s Fieldstone Coffee Roasters to offer four types of hot drip coffee (house blend, decaf, seasonal option and fair trade organic variety), two cold-brew options and two nitro selections.
Opening hours are 7 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily. Info: 484-8371177; tatamytakeout.com.
More foodie finds
A few other fresh eateries
are also boosting the Lehigh Valley’s dining scene:
First, Coplay Eatery, offering casual American fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner, opened Nov. 22 at 1214 Chestnut St. in Coplay.
The renovated corner property previously housed Paulie’s Family Restaurant, the latter of which closed in 2020 after more than a decade of business.
The BYOB eatery, with seating for around 120 customers, is operated by business partners Patrick Sibri and James Gibbons.
Customers can choose from a wide variety of fresh, made-toorder dishes, including burgers, cheesesteaks, soups, salads and chicken, steak and seafood platters. There are also international specialties such as gyro platters, veal parmigiana and carnitas quesadillas.
Breakfast items, including French toast, omelettes and corned beef hash, are available all day, and a new espresso machine brews specialty coffees. Info: 610-440-0293.
Second, Carl’s Corner, a popular cheesesteak and sub spot that has operated for nearly three decades at 2 W. Elizabeth Ave. in Bethlehem, on Wednesday held a soft opening of its second outpost at 848 Nazareth Pike in Lower Nazareth Township.
The new, 30-seat strip mall eatery offers Carl’s full menu, which includes steak sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, chicken wings, cold and hot subs, wraps, salads and “fryer delights” like breaded mushrooms, curly fries and pierogies.
The business is hiring fulland part-time employees for both locations, and for at least its first month, the Lower Nazareth eatery will operate under limited hours, including no dinner service on Friday and Saturday nights, co-owner Cindy Weintraub said.
Customers are advised to check the Carl’s Corner Nazareth Facebook page and/or call the business (610-994-3384) before visiting to make sure the eatery is open.
Cindy and her husband,
Matt, took over the 30-year-old Carl’s in 2018 and decided to expand the business in order to establish a training program for individuals with intellectual disabilities who are interested in learning various aspects of the restaurant industry. The training program is expected to debut in the spring. Info: carlscornersteaks.com.
Lastly, the new year will bring two new tenants to Bethlehem’s Stefko Boulevard Shopping Center.
This Is Burrito, a fast-casual restaurant specializing in made-to-order burritos, along with B Positive, a state-of-theart blood plasma collection site, are set to open in 2022 at the longstanding shopping center in the 1800 block of Stefko Boulevard, between Jill and Irene streets, according to Scott Horner, vice president of
Colliers International’s Allentown office, which brokered the deals.
This Is Burrito, occupying a 2,000-square-foot space that previously housed J’s Steaks & Subs (which moved a few blocks north in 2017), will operate in a similar way to that of popular chain burrito restaurants, owner Karen Lin said.
Diners will customize their orders with proteins such as beef and chicken along with lettuce, salsa, cheese and other ingredients. Tacos and other Mexican favorites also will be available.
Shoe stores
If you’re looking for a new pair of kicks, one shoe store recently opened while another recently moved.
Fashion-comfort footwear brand The Extra Pair by Sole Provisions, with 16 locations nationwide, on Nov. 16 opened its first Lehigh Valley store at The Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley in Upper Saucon Township.
The shop, between Dandelion and Chico’s, will hold a grand opening with giveaways, discounts, raffles and more on Dec. 11 and 12.
“The Extra Pair offers a robust collection of shoes for men and women, which is something we were in search of and are thrilled to welcome to the shopping center!” Krista Berardelli, The Promenade Shops’ marketing director, said in a news release.
Also, Red Wing Shoes, a 116-year-old company offering purpose-built footwear, workwear and accessories, on Thursday moved from The Shops at Cedar Point on Cedar Crest Boulevard in Allentown to 935 Airport Center Drive, Suite 1828, in Hanover Township,
Lehigh County, according to a store employee.
The Airport Center space previously housed the Lehigh Valley’s last Zoup! eatery, which closed in Sept. 2019 after 10 years of business.
Red Wing, with more than 500 locations nationwide, is a family-owned business that was founded by Charles Beckman in Red Wing, Minnesota, in 1905.
In addition to Red Wing Shoes, its brands include Irish Setter, premium, field-experience footwear taking sporting enthusiasts and workers “wherever their passion leads them”; Vasque, footwear designed with innovative materials to empower hikers, backpackers and campers; WORX, footwear introduced to keep workers safe and comfortable in the service, production, transportation and warehousing industries; and S.B. Foot Tanning Co., master tanners producing durable leather for footwear and other goods. Info: redwingshoes.com.
Odds and ends
As my colleague Jennifer Sheehan recently reported, a new place to get your holiday cards, gifts and more recently opened in South Whitehall Township.
Norman’s Hallmark, the
nation’s largest independent owner of Gold Crown Hallmark stores, recently opened its newest location at Crest Plaza Shopping Center on North Cedar Crest Boulevard in South Whitehall Twp. The new store marks an expansion of the card and specialty gift retailer’s area presence, joining existing locations at South Mountain Shopping Center in Allentown, the Lehigh Valley Mall in Whitehall and Palmer Park Mall in Easton.
The store offers a full line of Hallmark products, cards for every occasion and Keepsake Ornaments, along with fashion accessories, books, stationery, games, home décor, candy and gourmet foods. Info: normanshallmark.com
I’ll finish with a couple of closures
First, after 20 years of business, Ahart’s Market closed in late Nov. in Allentown’s West Allen Street shopping center.
“I asked my wholesaler on the last lease renewal to get off the lease, which they didn’t want to do because they liked the area,” owner George Ahart told The Morning Call in early November. “They were then sold [to United Natural Foods, Inc., a natural and organic food company], which doesn’t want to be on leases and didn’t want to renew the lease.”
Owner George Ahart also had to close his south Bethlehem store in April.
He said that building had become structurally unsound over the years, and he was unsuccessful in trying to find a buyer. Eventually, the Bethlehem property owner approached CTown supermarket owner Juan Diaz, who bought the building for $2.3 million with plans to renovate and reopen it as an Ideal Food Basket.
The Bethlehem and Allentown closures leave only the Bath and Blakeslee stores still open.
Lastly, The Hamilton Kitchen & Bar, a seven-year-old restaurant once seen as a linchpin to the revitalization of downtown Allentown’s dining scene, on Tuesday closed permanently in advance of a new dining and entertainment concept, Sports & Social, that is expected to open in its place in 2022.
Gift cards will be honored at The Dime restaurant and bar inside the Renaissance Allentown Hotel, according to a message on The Hamilton’s Facebook page.
Sports & Social, a division of Baltimore-based The Cordish Companies that also operates Xfinity Live! and Live! Casino & Hotel in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, is scheduled to open in the spring at the corner of Seventh and Hamilton streets.
The 8,000-square-foot venue will feature live music and entertainment as well as sports-watching experiences with its game-day Sports Watch activations.
Retail Watch, appearing every weekend, keeps track of retail and restaurant news in the Lehigh Valley. Contact Ryan Kneller at 610-820-6597 or retailwatch@mcall.com.