So much to reply to and so little time. The "traditional" Philadelphia steak sandwich was made from eye rolls that were trimmed of the grissel and membranes. Copies of the steak sandwich, typically outside of Philadelphia, were rib eyes. Marinade, apparently our paths did not cross since you indicated you worked there in the 70's. I worked there many summers in the mid sixties. The only Jimmy I recall was a short black guy who was built like a jockey. Do you have any recollection of when Sylvester Stallone delivered "original" pizza shells? His step father, Tony owned "original pizza". You said you were there in the 70's, but I thought by the end of the 60's, Allied did away with the metal molds. The meat came in cardboard cases that could weigh as much as 130 lbs, 4 molds to a case. If you cried about how heavy the boxes were, you were fired. The molded meat was provided by Rothschild Packing in Chicago. I don't know why, but I still have a couple of the old metal molds that found their way as a border in my garden. The New Zealand meat you refer to was used for the hamburgers. However, there were a couple of customers, Luigi in Willow Grove and a place on Rising Sun Ave. not far from Levick St. with an Italian name who bought the frozen eye rolls and sliced them on their own. Each steak consisted of 3 very thin slices, so that the total weight was between 2-4 oz. The slice in the middle was reversed by hand as it came off the slicer. That reversal was a "secret". When I was there, there were about 5 slicers going all day long. To John who asked the source of the hot dogs. For most of the years I recall, the hot dogs came from Burks or Burkes in Allentown and were private labeled. Not Smith and Wesson. The cases were 60 pounds. I recall when I made deliveries to George or Nick in Wildwood, the cases often had to be checked in one at a time because when your back was turned they would steal a 10 lb box out of the case and complain they were "shorted". Sausage was from Dick Kleinert's which was located somewhere on a tiny street in the middle of row houses near K and A. Also, there was a government inspector on site every day keeping an eye on things. Some of the most memorable characters there were "hambone", Louie who always had a stogie in his mouth and a knive by his side, Tommy who smoked like a chimney in the office, "Frankie" on one of the slicers who dressed like an LA hooker and looked quite "hot" on a Friday night. The company was sold in the 90's and taken over by Susan Fletcher (daughter of Norman Braiman? who was once owner of the Eagles. The name was changed to Allied Food Specialties, is located in New Jersey and probably does a fraction of the business done by the original Allied Steaks, which once had locations in Philadelphia, Wildwood, Atlantic City (Weiss and Co.), and Cologne, New Jersey. Via Allied, the Philadelphia steak sandwich found its way around the country by way of Marriot restaurants and K-Marts.
