Smoked marshmallows and smoked brown sugar? I’m not even kidding! They were really good, too. And that’s just a very tiny example of the unique foods you can find at Midtown Gourmet Specialties on Frederica.
Owner Robbie Kuegel rigged up a “cold smoker” room, where the firebox is outside the building and a blower shoots the smoke into the room. As a result, he can smoke just about anything. Chocolate, salt, coffee, cheese, and many other things too.
Robbie and Shannon Kuegel had another business here in town for several years, but decided to get into something else. “We wanted to find a business we could do together – something that we really enjoyed,” Robbie explained. “We both love to cook and we both love to try new things, so this is what we came up with. Now we think we’ve found our niche.”
That niche is offering high quality, unique foods. Pasture raised beef, pork, and chicken. Imported Italian olive oil. Authentic Indian teas. Wild caught seafood. Assorted wild game. Quinoa and other whole foods. German cheeses. They’ve got it all.
The Kuegels can offer that kind of crazy variety on a small scale because they know exactly where every item comes from and they can custom order it. They’ve literally visited the local farms where their chicken and pigs are raised. They’ve seen the fields where their 100% grass fed beef comes from – right here in Kentucky. They know the family histories of their imported items, and they’re glad to share all those stories. You get a free history lesson in the checkout line!
You’ve got to see this place to truly appreciate it. When you walk in, you’ll find shelves full of loose leaf tea and coffee on your right, racks full of spices on your left, and other specialty food items on a center display. The meat locker is in rear of the building, with display cases and freezers stocked full of high quality meats.
The vision for Midtown Gourmet Specialties also includes offering “healthier” options than you normally find in other markets. They don’t mind paying a little extra to ensure the added health benefits of their products, either. Apparently the customers value it as well.
“We sold a lot our high quality meats this Christmas,” Robbie commented. “Our beef tenderloins went crazy. I had to re-order every other day to keep up.” Their natural salt cooking blocks were hot items during the Holidays too.
Slowly but surely, word is spreading. “We knew it would take a while for word to get out,” Kuegel admitted. “But we feel confident in our product. The majority of our customers are very appreciative to us for bringing this kind of thing to Owensboro.” Especially since people used to have to drive to Evansville or even further to get this kind of high quality food.
I wanted to walk out with one of everything. Stop by sometime. You’ll see what I mean.
Keep up with their latest selections at http://www.midtowngourmetspecialties.com or on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/midtowngourmetspecialties.
