Feeding The Eagles
Before indulging in the Eagles' menu, we had to talk about game time spreads. Chef Buniak and Chef Lopez brought along perfect additions for any game day party. All the foods can be made ahead of time and assembled Sunday morning.
First up? Italian Hoagie Dip.
"It's got some mayonnaise in there, some olive oil, some pepperoncinis, salami and capicola. Everything you would find in an Italian hoagie and what we did was toss that all together," said Chef Buniak.
Next, he said to take a bread bowl, carve a circle out of the top and use the inside filling for dipping.
A watch party can never have too many dips so the chefs also brought along a crab dip. Chef Lopez described the NovaCare Complex favorite.
"What you can do is take some cream cheese, take some really fresh jumbo lump crab meat, mix that together with some basic seasoning. I'm not going to give you the full recipe since it's a little bit of a secret, but there's some old bay in there and a lot of love. We give our guys a lot of love."
The only thing more important than the food being delicious? Nutrition.
"We want to make sure they have a really well-balanced diet. These guys are high-performance athletes and if you have a high-performance engine in your car, you put a high octane fuel in it. These guys are doing the same thing with their bodies. With the advances in sports science, the foods these guys are eating now have changed completely the last few years," said Chef Buniak.
Chef Lopez described a healthier option.
"These are homemade chicken meatballs we make in our café. We got a homemade tomato sauce that Chef Jason hooked up. If you want to go healthier with your meatball, you want to get something leaner like chicken or turkey so that's what we're presenting today."
Before we let them go, we had to ask what quarterback Carson Wentz's favorite meal was.
"It's a sandwich that he likes. A lot of players started calling it 'The Wentz.' It's basically a really hooked up grilled cheese with smoked ham, smoked turkey, seared tomato, melted provolone and a lot of crispy bacon...all on whole grain bread because you gotta keep it healthy."
What are you eating for the big game?
*Originally appeared on PHL17on February 2, 2018.