Local Food Evangelism - Forest Pork Store

I just came from my semi-regular pilgrimage to the local German butcher shop, Forest Pork Store.  This is one of those businesses that has a rabid cult following, drawing customers from all over Long Island, especially on a Saturday, one of those "Take-a-number" days.  The staff is friendly, German-English bilingual, most of them, and the meats are fantastic.  Fabulous beef cuts, real bacon, not that supermarket stuff, and they make their own wursts and other sausages.  Some German toiletries and periodicals are also available.  They also have their original ( I think ) location in Ridgewood, Queens.  Here's a link to the history of German Butcher Shops in Ridgewood with a nice photo essay.

When the kids come in, they get handed the little hotdogs, and they make this stuff there, that I've never seen anywhere else.  It may be my limited exposure to foods of the world, but you can get Leberkase here.  The best thing is when you get a warm slice handed to you that has that delicious brown crust on top.  I know I'm doing it no justice, but it's like warm bologna with a nice crispy outside.  Definitely not a place for vegetarians, or folks watching their cholesterol.

I often think how you can use the internet to help small, local, boutique businesses like these grow and thrive.  There are two other local gems, a bakery, and an organic poultry farm that I've spoken to.  Each of the owners wants to stay the size that they are, and not become massive operations, handling the new flow of orders from the net.  I think that most of us in the blogosphere forget to talk to folks like this, we assume that everybody wants to grow their business to the size of Starbucks.  Sometimes its best for a small business to stay small.  I still think there's a place for local content on the web that will help business like these develop a more loyal local following without necessarily drowning them in business.  Just not sure what it is yet.