Pepper’s Deli & Butcher: The German Lunch Counter Worth Knowing
There are only so many grouper sandwiches one can eat in a week. For a change of pace, head to Corporate Square off Radio Road, where Pepper’s Deli & Butcher has been making a convincing case for a German lunch.
Pepper’s is a proper butcher shop and deli run by Georg and Heike Hörndler. Georg earned his Master Butcher certification and the meat case reflects it. Nearly everything in it is made in-house, from bratwurst to German cold cuts, using spices and sausage casings imported from Germany. The salami is one exception: apparently, Florida humidity makes proper curing impossible.
Come hungry. Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., with something different cooked from scratch each day. Sauerbraten is often a special with red cabbage and German potato salad, along with bratwurst and sauerkraut and breaded pork schnitzel. Then there’s the Schnitzel Reuben, which dispenses with geographic fidelity altogether: pork schnitzel, sauerkraut, Swiss and Thousand Island on rye. Germany meets the New York deli, to very good effect.
Photo via Reddit
Before you leave, check the butcher case. Pepper’s carries Braunschweiger, Nürnberger sausages, Oktoberfest brats and even Limburger cheese. They also bake German bread, rolls and pretzels fresh each day and stock mustards, chocolates, candies and other imports.
There’s a humble dining area, as this is still very much a butcher shop. Come for a lunch you cannot find elsewhere and leave with provisions for the week.
Pepper’s Deli & Butcher
4165 Corporate Square, Naples | (239) 643-2008 | Pepper’s Deli & Butcher
Originally published in
The Naples Florida Review.
Read the full edition here.