Rieker's Prime Meats

7979 Oxford Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111
Note: The front door is on Oxford Avenue, but the parking lot is around the corner on Rhawn Street.
Website


Oh Rieker's. How I wish you were closer, yet how glad I am that you are like a diamond in the rough, up in the great Northeast.


When you first walk into Rieker's, you will not believe the amount of awesome things there are to look at and to buy. My eyes were immediately drawn towards the incredible amount of fresh bratwurst, knackwurst and various other encased meats.


I had to buy some of the bacon knackwurst, obviously, and I also got some Oktoberfest bratwurst, and the traditional knackwurst. Although I was more than happy to give these house-made meats a go-round, I was really interested in the unusual stuffed & wrapped larger offerings, as seen below.



I mean who doesn't love anything wrapped in bacon. At Rieker's they seem to wrap EVERYTHING in bacon. Amazing. Look for a review of one or all of these delicacies to come through here in the near future.



So after much deliberation, I tore myself away with just the encased meats, some homemade sauerkraut and a pack of potato and cheddar pierogies for dinner. If I didn't already have six fresh rolls, it would likely have ended differently. Everything in there is amazing: from the abundant variety of frozen German foods, to the candies, the babka, and even the cukoo clocks that are for sale on the wall. And then there were treasures like these.



But I digress. The sausages (I will here on out refer to the various brats and knacks collectively as sausages) were all pre-cooked so they just needed to be grilled to crisp them up. Which makes things A LOT easier (I took the old German woman's advice on which to pick, but the bacon knackwurst were a must).


So I started the charcoal, and threw these bad boys on.


They cooked quickly over a hot bed of coals, and blistered quite nicely.


Here are the pierogies, cooked with some onions. They were delicious, as almost all pierogies are, and the potato filling was light and fluffy.


The knackwurst is a blend of veal, pork, and beef, with garlic seasoning. The bacon knackwurst adds imported roasted onion and house smoked bacon to that mix. The Oktoberfest is a white bratwurst that contains imported spices from an authentic Oktoberfest recipe, which includes caraway and marjoram. These sausages mixed with their sauerkraut and some authentic mustard were SO GOOD. They were easily some of the best brats and knacks I have ever eaten. They were so juicy and rich, with the satisfying snap of a natural casing. I asked my fellow diners which were their favorites, and we could come to no consensus. Everyone like something different about all of them. The sauerkraut they sell is imported, they cook it again with potato, caraway seed, bacon and seasonings. How do you think it tastes? Amazing! The mix of fresh sausage with homemade kraut is a match made in heaven. I cannot wait to go back to Rieker's, and it will most likely be sooner rather than later. Those roasts are calling my name.