The Best Wurst
There is a lot of good food out there. I know this, and you know I know: you don't get a table muscle like mine by being shy with a fork. I love food of all kinds, from the commonplace to the exotic, I'll try just about anything once. (Dog soup? Good stuff; tastes like chicken. Highly spiced chicken.) Still, I find that the simplest foods often satisfy the best. I like French food, but no matter how rich the sauce or subtle the flavors, there's always something, . . . unsatisfying about it. Chinese food is yummy and, when you get the yen for it, it hits the spot. And I LOVES me some good sushi. An English meat pie can be tasty. BUT
There's nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like a good sausage. Some may differ (I'm looking at you, Brunnhilde), but, as Gandalf says, "Search your feelings, you know this to be true." Bratwurst, weisswurst, banger, Louisiana hot link, Andouille, even the humble frank, the wonderful gush of meaty juices when you bite into them sends me into rapture. Everett & Jones (Oakland soul food BBQ www.eandjbbq.com - and well worth the time to try if you're in town and not lucky enough to be a local) are justly famous for their wonderful sweet, hot sauce, but they also make their own links, and the links alone are to die for. Put the links and the sauce together, and you have the most perfect food imaginable. It is nothing less than meat candy. There's only one meaty treat that can hold a candle to it: Dittmer's.
Dittmer's Gourmet Meats & Wurst Haus www.dittmers.com/ on San Antonio Road in Mt. View is a German deli that serves up sausage sandwiches during lunch time. The other day, I was barreling down 101 at 11:45 a.m. I hadn't eaten anything that day, and my stomach was letting me know unequivocally that it needed to be filled RIGHT NOW! Its been years since I've been to Dittmer's, so I wasn't thinking about them. I actually considered stopping at fast food somewhere. I used to work off San Antonio, and I knew that there was a KFC not far off the freeway, so I took the exit. Still, I missed the KFC, and before I knew it, I was on the overpass going over the Central Expressway. And there it was: meat Shangri La.
I had a Thuringer Bratwurst sandwich the likes of which brings angels to tears and causes the heavenly host themselves to drop their harps and grab their forks. Grilled brat (it was the special that day) with provolone cheese melted all over, topped with pepperoncini and German mustard. I ate out in the sunshine on their picnic tables and realized that life just doesn't get any better than that. Oh, I suppose that I've had better days. I mean, those were pretty good days when my children were born, and when I got married, to name a couple. But for pure animal contentment and hedonistic enjoyment, what could be better than a grilled sausage sandwich in the warm sun?
There's nothing, and I mean NOTHING, like a good sausage. Some may differ (I'm looking at you, Brunnhilde), but, as Gandalf says, "Search your feelings, you know this to be true." Bratwurst, weisswurst, banger, Louisiana hot link, Andouille, even the humble frank, the wonderful gush of meaty juices when you bite into them sends me into rapture. Everett & Jones (Oakland soul food BBQ www.eandjbbq.com - and well worth the time to try if you're in town and not lucky enough to be a local) are justly famous for their wonderful sweet, hot sauce, but they also make their own links, and the links alone are to die for. Put the links and the sauce together, and you have the most perfect food imaginable. It is nothing less than meat candy. There's only one meaty treat that can hold a candle to it: Dittmer's.
Dittmer's Gourmet Meats & Wurst Haus www.dittmers.com/ on San Antonio Road in Mt. View is a German deli that serves up sausage sandwiches during lunch time. The other day, I was barreling down 101 at 11:45 a.m. I hadn't eaten anything that day, and my stomach was letting me know unequivocally that it needed to be filled RIGHT NOW! Its been years since I've been to Dittmer's, so I wasn't thinking about them. I actually considered stopping at fast food somewhere. I used to work off San Antonio, and I knew that there was a KFC not far off the freeway, so I took the exit. Still, I missed the KFC, and before I knew it, I was on the overpass going over the Central Expressway. And there it was: meat Shangri La.
I had a Thuringer Bratwurst sandwich the likes of which brings angels to tears and causes the heavenly host themselves to drop their harps and grab their forks. Grilled brat (it was the special that day) with provolone cheese melted all over, topped with pepperoncini and German mustard. I ate out in the sunshine on their picnic tables and realized that life just doesn't get any better than that. Oh, I suppose that I've had better days. I mean, those were pretty good days when my children were born, and when I got married, to name a couple. But for pure animal contentment and hedonistic enjoyment, what could be better than a grilled sausage sandwich in the warm sun?