It just kills me that I only found out about San Diego's Sausage King this winter, but who would have expected an old-world sausage shop in Spanish-settled San Diego?
It's wonderful. All their meats are processed on site - the smoked ham, the blood sausage, even the liverwurst. They have bratwurst, knackwurst, bockwurst, linguicia, landjager, and many others I can't even remember right now.
When I first tried their bratwurst, I noticed something different about it. I noticed it initially while frying it up, and even more when taking a bite. Compared to what you tend to get here in the US, Sausage King's sausages are low fat and low in sodium. You actually taste the meat and the spices rather than be overwhelmed with salt and preservatives. Fantastic.
And what, you might ask, does this have to do with vintage forums?
Walking into the place is like walking back 50 years into, well, an immigrant-run sausage shop. First time I went there, I was the only person in the shop without a German accent. The cash register is a thing of beauty. Cash only, of course (who heard of going to a neighborhood deli with credit cards 50 years ago?) and is fully mechanical.
I guess what I'm saying is that nothing in the place has changed since they opened. It's a true treasure - locally made meats produced to the owner's personal recipes, great vintage interior and register... The sort of thing that should make anyone with a soul nostalgic and hate the fact that this has the capacity to produce 10,000 pounds of sausage a day but now puts out a scant fraction of that any more but you can get frozen, overprocessed, overpreserved, oversalted Johnsonville grease tubes everywhere.
A local news article on the place.
It's wonderful. All their meats are processed on site - the smoked ham, the blood sausage, even the liverwurst. They have bratwurst, knackwurst, bockwurst, linguicia, landjager, and many others I can't even remember right now.
When I first tried their bratwurst, I noticed something different about it. I noticed it initially while frying it up, and even more when taking a bite. Compared to what you tend to get here in the US, Sausage King's sausages are low fat and low in sodium. You actually taste the meat and the spices rather than be overwhelmed with salt and preservatives. Fantastic.
And what, you might ask, does this have to do with vintage forums?
Walking into the place is like walking back 50 years into, well, an immigrant-run sausage shop. First time I went there, I was the only person in the shop without a German accent. The cash register is a thing of beauty. Cash only, of course (who heard of going to a neighborhood deli with credit cards 50 years ago?) and is fully mechanical.
I guess what I'm saying is that nothing in the place has changed since they opened. It's a true treasure - locally made meats produced to the owner's personal recipes, great vintage interior and register... The sort of thing that should make anyone with a soul nostalgic and hate the fact that this has the capacity to produce 10,000 pounds of sausage a day but now puts out a scant fraction of that any more but you can get frozen, overprocessed, overpreserved, oversalted Johnsonville grease tubes everywhere.
A local news article on the place.
