Take-me-home food is what Kay Nolan calls the fare that she and Nancy Rigney dish up at their new Winfield shop, Entree Express. Customers can pick up a complete cooked dinner here, including side dishes, and take it home to their families.
It`s not gourmet cooking, she`s quick to tell you. It`s homestyle cooking, the familiar kind of stuff your mom made. Food that you can empty into your own serving dish and everyone will think you spent hours preparing it.
The idea for the shop began when Nolan would come home late from work too tired to cook for her family, so Rigney began cooking for both families.
”My family loved everything she cooked,” said Nolan. ”If she put bean sprouts in, they loved it. If I did that, they would lynch me. She`s just a natural cook, and isn`t afraid to use imaginative ingredients.”
Rigney said, ”My dad was in the grocery store business when I was growing up. My mom was a good cook and since she had everything available to her, we ate a variety of meals.”
Rigney likes to prepare family favorites, even calling on her 90-year-old grandmother for recipes.
Each day two choices of dinner entrees are prepared, such as roast pork
($5.75), sausage and kraut ($4.85), pot roast ($4.50), barbecued country ribs ($5), pork tenderloin ($6), pepper steak ($5.75) or stuffed pork chops
($6). Each dinner comes with a vegetable; potato or rice; plus a choice of soup or salad. For a little extra, customers can also pick up a fresh baked dessert, such as cherry cobbler, eclair ring, crazy cake or cherry brandy pie. Family rates are available for four servings or more, and beginning in March, a heart-healthy meal will be offered once a week, Rigney said.
Soup and sandwiches are prepared at lunch time, with High Lake Chili the specialty on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Entree Express welcomes catering orders, and for gifts, customers may choose a gift certificate or from the selection of gourmet coffees, candies, jellies and gourmet baskets by ”Just Because.”
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Entree Express, 27W570 High Lake Road, Winfield, is open from ll a.m.-2 p.m. and from 5-7:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. For a monthly menu, call
708-690-4444.
