Edible Urban Forager: It’s a Small World, After All
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The German Gourmet in Falls Church still fills our fridge and our need for community
By Kristina Henry, photos by Susan Able | EdibleDC
A Swiss cowbell rings as you enter the store. It not only signals your entry but is a symbol of a place that feels like a holdover from decades earlier. But, hello, it’s 2021 and you’ve arrived at The German Gourmet.
We have a German Gourmet shopping protocol that starts at the meat counter. Always on our list are the schinkenwurst (bologna with bits of ham in it) and zungenwurst (blood and tongue) and butterkäse (butter cheese that resembles Havarti); these are all must haves. The meats are delivered weekly from Binkert’s in Baltimore. We never refuse a sample of anything.
Moving on to the bread case, I ask for the giant loaf of holzofenbrot (wood-fired bread), sliced for sandwiches.
“Ma’am,” says the young man behind the counter. “That’s six pounds of bread.”
“I know,” I reply sheepishly. “But I live on the Eastern Shore and I tend to buy a lot. But I also freeze some,” I add, so I don’t come across as some wacky prepper. Maybe I am.
“Ah, a hoarder,” he says smiling and begins to cut using the bread slicer.
We call it provisioning, even though we have several major grocery chains in Easton, MD, where I live with my husband, Mike. Boar’s Head cold cuts are good, but the offerings from the German Gourmet are something special.
Occasionally we’ll splurge and buy some pieces of cake and cookies, the Florentines and schweineohren (pigs’ ears, or palmiers) are my favorites. I’ve outgrown most of the candy, but occasionally I’ll buy a rittersport or two for nostalgia’s sake. Even though they can be purchased at most stores, the shop offers a better selection with flavors like tortilla chip and caramel mousse.
The Zagat-approved store has been a tradition in our family from its early days when it was known as Wenzels and located on Lee Highway. To a child it was a magical place that I considered more as a candy store with imported chocolates and gummy bears in a time before globalization and Amazon made everything commonplace.
For my mom, a German citizen, it was the place to go for real bratwurst and liverwurst and brötchen (breakfast rolls). A vestige of the Old World replete with cuckoo clocks and issues of German magazines like Der Spiegel and Brigitte, the shop was frequented mostly by diplomats and embassy staffers as well as U.S. military personnel who had served in Germany and obviously missed the taste of their former posts. Our trips there from our home in Vienna, VA, were infrequent, thus very special and often made before our relatives arrived from overseas for their annual summer visits.
Like its surrounding neighborhood, the store’s staff and clientele resemble a model U.N. Located in an area that’s both trendy and traditional, with an impending Amazon site slated for Arlington, a nearby Trader Joe’s and several Guatemalan, Peruvian, Korean and Indian restaurants, the shop is right at home in the international landscape. As I wait to place my orders, an elderly couple speaks fluent German to the staff person behind the cheese counter while an Asian family orders a pound of Krakauer and some bologna. In a nod to its multinational clientele, Chupa Chups lollipops are available at the register alongside mini bottles of Underberg, a German digestif my grandmother used to drink.
Falls Church has grown and changed from when I was younger. It's incredibly diverse, a true melting pot of a neighborhood. Its energy, population and walkability are very appealing and have made it a great area to explore for foodies who like to explore international shopping and new cuisines.
But, it's a great relief to me that this relic of my childhood still exists. German food is on the hearty side, not as diet or Instagram-friendly as smashed avocado on toast. It’s comforting to know that there is a community of people who share my palate for brown bread, meat, cheese and potatoes. Life's touchstones are made of food, fellowship and memories. Yes, it is really that simple.
Our provisions safety stowed in two coolers in the trunk of our car, we head out and eat lunch at a nearby Spanish restaurant and then will begin our journey home to the Eastern Shore.
German Gourmet | 5838 Columbia Pike, Falls Church, VA 22041 | 703-379-8080 or 877-GerGour (437-4687) info@germangourmet.com | Open M–Sa 9am–7pm, Su 10am–4pm | www.germangourmet.com
Kristina Henry is a writer based in Easton, MD.
Her work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Baltimore Sun, Washingtonian Magazine and Maryland Life. She is a Masters swimmer and a contributor to USMS Swimmer Magazine.
