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The Dutch Epicure Shop491 Bantam Road Route 202 Litchfield 06759 860-567-5586 BY JAN ELLEN SPIEGEL Special To The Courant April 20, 2006 Wilma Joas knows exactly why the Dutch Epicure Shop has survived nearly 40 years pretty much in the middle of nowhere in Litchfield. "Beschuit," she says. "Everybody needs to have their beschuit."And, it would seem their stroopwafels and their hagelslag and their vannile vla and their poffertjes and their speculaas and their ontbijtkoek. You knew that, right? Well, neither did we. But people crave these Dutch pantry staples, and the dozens and dozens and dozens of other Dutch and German products the shop stocks, enough to keep traipsing all the way out Route 202 to this barely noticeable store wedged into a nondescript strip mall. The shop was started by a Dutchman and a few years later purchased by Joas' parents - Wolfgang, a German-born pastry chef, and Betsy, who came from Holland. Betsy handled the import end of things and Wolfgang baked. And baked. Cakes, cookies, pastries, breads - mostly German. And when he didn't bake, he made chocolate - serious, serious chocolate. Wilma, who trained as a chef at the Culinary Institute of Arts, does the pastry duties now. Her parents retired (more or less) 3-1/2 years ago and she took over. Her mother still does the overseas ordering since, after all these years, she has a pretty good handle on what people want. And as near as we can tell, people want their Dutch foods - very much. "I have people who call me from all over the country, saying `Do you have hagelslag, do you have those sprinkles you put on bread?'" Joas says. "They're just chocolate sprinkles that you put on bread and eat them as a sandwich. They're very basic in Holland, but when you have it here (and for the record, she has several varieties) and they can get it, they're so happy." And that's the key to the Dutch Epicure Shop - happy.And that would be happy in several languages. Folks come in, Wilma says, and they want to go native. So she'll speak to them in whatever language they prefer, as long as it's English, German or Dutch. It's all part of a sense of the old country, the foods they miss, and especially their childhood memories. It makes them - you got it - happy. "I grew up here in the kitchen, and you'd see the people coming back week after week and they were always happy to see you," she says. "It's a nice business to be in. You're not the dentist. They want to come to see you." And what do they want to buy? As Wilma points out, the shop isn't going to stock things that people won't buy. So judging by the packed shelves, dairy cases and freezers, they want a ton of different things. For instance, turns out the Dutch are into licorice big time, and the Dutch Epicure Shop stocks about 30 varieties. But this is Dutch licorice, which means some of it is sweet, but usually it's salty or very, very salty. Definitely an acquired taste. "I had all my candy to myself," Wilma says of when she was a kid. "None of my friends wanted to share it." You think you know Gouda cheese? Hah! That grocery store stuff you're used to is strictly pedestrian compared to the 18 varieties Wilma stocks: Prima Donna - aged or young; Leyden, with cumin, with basil and garlic; even gouda goat cheese. "There's almost no such thing as plain gouda," Wilma says. But in Holland, she points out, there are whole rooms of nothing but gouda. "The Dutch and their cheeses is truly a love affair." There is herring - in paprika sauce, tomato sauce, mustard, curry, cumin, dill, smoked, kippered and fried. Chili pastes and all manner of Indonesian spices, a remnant of the Dutch colonial legacy. Curry ketchup, mayonnaise for french fries - which is how the Dutch eat them. ("To this day, people make fun of me," Wilma says.) Jarred vegetables, jellies and jams, honeys, mustards, Dutch coffee, cookies and biscuits, fruit syrups ("You mix it with club soda and that was our soda when I was growing up," Wilma says.) And then there are all the in-house baked items. About a dozen breads, mostly German plus a Dutch raisin bread (no sugar, two kinds of raisins, currants and citron) and German pretzels every Saturday. She makes a dozen or so pastries from tiny fruit tarts to cakes. Black Forest cake is the biggest seller, but ask Wilma her favorite and she answers with no hesitation. "Seven-layer cake. It's seven layers of chocolate cake with mocha butter-cream filling and there's a thin layer of marzipan on top and the whole thing is covered with dark chocolate." And while she says it's her birthday cake every year, her tall thin build says otherwise. "I do laps around the kitchen. I eat plenty." She makes about 20 different cookies (palmiers are the most popular) - more at Christmas. Don't be looking for chocolate chip or brownies though! And she makes about 20 candies using dark, milk and white chocolates. At Christmas she makes chocolate letters, and we're talking big letters here, which the Dutch traditionally give to represent someone's initials. "I think maybe that's why we're still here," Wilma says. "Because we do things that other people don't know how to do or don't do anymore." Hours: Wednesday-Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Close Mondays and Tuesdays. Map | Printer-Friendly Page | Email to a Friend
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