Lamb sausages worth driving for.

My friend Nicole and I went on a butcher shop crawl last week (meaning we went to several different butcher shops for the particular items they are known for). One of the meat shops on the list was the Leschi Food Mart. I had read in an article in Chow that Leschi had some of the best lamb sausages in Seattle. Sausage being one of my favorite foods in the whole world, we had to find this place. I had never been to Leschi and I didn't know what to expect so as our adventure brought us through some particularly rough neighborhoods we began to wonder what this Leschi place was going to be like. Pimps, prostitutes, and boarded up mini-mart windows gave way to lush green windy park roads and giant glass mansions. It was definitely one of the strangest car rides I've taken in a while. It felt like we had entered a whole other city and we were no longer near Seattle. Eventually we came across the little mini-grocery store Leschi Food Mart. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, are we really buying meat at a mini-mart?" Once we walked in and down an aisle to the butcher case, all of my fears had subsided and I knew that everything was going to be great. Tons of house-made sausages including lamb sausage, kielbasa, spicy fennel, applesauce breakfast, smoked turkey, and other house-smoked meats. After picking out like five types of sausage the butcher asked me "What's today, sausage day?" Yes it was my friend. I wanted to try everything. We purchased our bounty and headed back to Seattle (although we did get lost and kept winding up back by the mini-mart. We thought we were not going to be allowed to escape.) Finally we made it back home and packed our freezers with delicious sausages.

The lamb sausage from Leschi is indeed the best lamb sausage I have ever had. Perfect fat to meat ratio, juicy and tender. I will definitely have that adventure again to get these sausages. I sauteed the lamb sausages in a little olive oil until perfectly cooked. I served them on French lentils with bacon and a salad of curly endive and mint with a balsamic vinaigrette.