Thursday, July 20, 2006

A Few of My Favorite Things (a.k.a my second trip to Tip Top)

True to my word, I have already taken advantage of Tip Top Meats being a short drive from my new residence.

My mom was visiting for a long weekend and I had to bring her to my new find. I knew she would be impressed. I grew up having a German deli near our town that had the best wursts. We also had a local German bakery that was delicious. Since we've moved out west I haven't found an acceptable German deli...until now.

While Tip Top Meats is missing a few of my favorite wursts, they have enough products to compensate. I am truly in love.

On the fourth day my mom was in town we grilled up the mini-bratwursts that I had recently bought from Tip Top along with some great veggies and mini-rolls from the bakery in Carlsbad Village. The meal was so delicious that I knew I had to bring my mom to Tip Top during this visit and not a moment later.

I showed her around the store and pointed out the giant marzipan bar (marzipan is a weakness of mine), the variety of mustards, meats, and beer. Then I brought her back to the restaurant area to show her how cheap the meals really are and discussed which meats we would purchase that day.

Gelbwurst
I know my mom loves Gelbwurst so I ordered a 1/4 pound of that. Of course, I ended up getting a quarter pound of Decora and Old Forest Salami as well since the man before me was ordering both and I requested a taste while the woman behind the counter was slicing the meat. She was very generous with handing out tastes of the meat (which is a great marketing tactic since I tend to buy more things that way). I also ordered a pound of the German potato salad (which I have decided is good but not great and I probably will just try to make a better version myself).

If you're unfamiliar with most of their deli meats try these three cold cuts. The salami isn't too fatty tasting and is fairly mild. Their gelbwurst is actually peppery (usually it's more bland) and the decora is an herb bologna (yes, I know bologna sounds gross but this bologna isn't anything like that kind that has a first name) with a great flavor. These cold cuts taste great on their marble rye bread.


Decora Wurst/BolognaOld Forest Salami
Since there was an extra person in our house that week I decided to get the apple strudel I had been eyeing during my last visit. It's a huge slab of strudel (comes in many flavors) that seems to be made fresh at Tip Top.

This strudel is worth a trip to Tip Top just for the strudel. The apples are tart and the strudel is just sweet enough to be satisfying without making you sick. It tastes great heated up and is a delicious breakfast item to serve to guests.

Apple Strudel
Before we left Tip Top I was showing my mom the jam section when I shrieked. They had jam with my mom's (and one of my) last name on it! It was too exciting. I had remembered that my grandpa found the jam once on Long Island but we hadn't seen it since. What do you know? A meat store in Carlsbad, CA (of all places) had that jam! It came in one flavor: red fruit.
So I will be trying the jam soon and cleaning that jar with all my might so that I can show everyone the jam with my last name on it! I hope I'm related to the folks who make the jam! It's not a common last name in the US but I suppose it might be common in Germany.

Anyway, in case it wasn't obvious during the first post, I love this store and if you haven't been you must go there ASAP. If you try anything new let me know what it is and if you recommend it.

Auf Wiedersehen!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, I must try that strudel, it looks amazing!

Alice Q. Foodie said...

We used to go there a loooong time ago, when my grandparents lived in La Costa - good to know it's still going strong!

Anonymous said...

Hi Kady,
Nice post with good pictures. I think I feel a trip to Tip Top coming on.

Anonymous said...

The lamb chop dinner is great. I ordered and they went and grabbed two big chops from the butcher counter and cooked them up. (afterwards I walked over to the counter and looked at the price per lb, and after some quick math, I figured they had charged me $1.00 for the rest of the meal. The other good deal is the "you pick" steak. Where they charge you the price of the steak from the counter, and an extra $3 or so for the rest of the meal.