I’m Chef Bobby Howell, and I build community by feeding people. Sometimes it’s a private in-home dinner, sometimes it’s a busy lunch rush at Winsor Deli, and sometimes it’s cooking for a room full of strangers who leave feeling like friends.
I’ve been in kitchens for more than twenty years. I trained at the Culinary Institute of America. I helped open some of the Lehigh Valley’s best-known spots, including what’s now Wind Creek’s Chop House, Emeril’s Italian Table, Carnegie Deli, and St. James Gate. I loved the energy and the standards in those rooms, but I also saw something missing: the intimacy. In a huge restaurant, you might crush service, but you don’t always get to look someone in the eye and feel how that meal changed their day.
Hosted by Howell is my answer to that. It started as a private chef and catering company built around one simple idea: you should actually enjoy your own party. I come into your home or venue, plan a menu tailored to your guests, cook from scratch, serve, clean up, and disappear—leaving you with compliments and none of the chaos. Over time, it has grown into weddings, showers, corporate events, and other moments where people want great food without the stress.
Then Winsor Deli entered the picture. When the opportunity came up to take over a neighborhood deli on Tilghman Street in Allentown, it clicked immediately. I thought, “Why should chef-level food only live in special-occasion dining rooms?” Now “Hosted by Howell presents Winsor Deli” is our everyday home base for breakfast, lunch, and catering. We’re slinging breakfast sandwiches, soups, cheesesteaks, big loaded salads, and weekly specials you can actually get on a lunch break—no white tablecloth required. The idea is comfort food with a chef’s brain behind it: house-made dressings, thoughtful flavors, generous portions, zero pretense.
If you want the polished version of that story, you can now find us online at windsordeli.com. The site is new, but the heart of it is simple: it’s the digital front door to what we’re already doing every day—feeding people well, answering questions, making catering easier to book, and giving folks a sense of who’s behind the counter. I’m not interested in hiding behind stock photos and buzzwords. If you walk into the deli after seeing us online, I want it to feel like what you expected—just with better smells.
Community isn’t a marketing line for me; it’s the business model. We host and cater events that raise money and awareness for things that matter here, including Dine + Donate dinners at Winsor Deli. We collaborate with local partners, show up for fundraisers, and say “yes” to a lot of things that don’t always make perfect spreadsheet sense but feel right for the Valley. That’s the stuff that turns “a place to eat” into “our place.”
On paper, I wear a lot of hats—private chef, caterer, deli owner, and licensed real estate broker. It sounds like three different careers until you zoom out. What I really do is build spaces where people feel taken care of, whether that’s a dining room, a backyard tent, or a new home. Food is the fastest way I know to knock down walls between people. You sit, you eat, you talk, and suddenly strangers aren’t strangers anymore.
Looking ahead, my vision is straightforward: keep Winsor Deli a neighborhood staple, grow Hosted by Howell into the go-to name for chef-driven events in the Lehigh Valley, and use both to lift up the community that supports us. That means more collaborations, more cause-driven dinners, more teaching moments, and more chances for busy people to slow down around a table—without adding one more thing to their to-do list.
If you’ve read this far, you’re probably the kind of person who cares about local businesses, relationships, and real stories—not just logos and taglines. So, here’s my ask: if you’re planning a gathering, need lunch for the office, or want to turn a life moment into something guests actually remember, reach out. Come see us at Winsor Deli, explore Hosted by Howell, poke around windsordeli.com, or just stop in and say hi.
I’ll be the guy in the kitchen, doing what I do best—feeding our guests, listening to the community, and quietly plotting the next way we can make the Lehigh Valley feel a little more like home.
