Customers Always Come Back to Noack's

The German potato salad at in Meriden may be the most popular item on the menu, but everything else is a close second.

The butcher shop at 1112 East Main St. offers some of the finest meats around, which is why so many customers return, even regulars who don't live in Meriden or Connecticut, for that matter.

Noack's has operated out of its current location since 1966 (the original Noack's was located downtown). The authentic German recipes have also stayed the same, according to Ewelina Michalowski, who started working at the butcher shop in high school and now proudly welcomes customers through the door as its owner.

Noack's shelves are full of international items like Babka (a sweet bread), European candies and condiments (including Sauerkraut) and even magazines. The shop also sells wholesale and will process venison (minimum 20 lbs per type of meat).

Patch: What's unique about Noack's?

Michalowski: We have a couple of different smoke houses in the back so we make and smoke everything on the premises. We get people from all over, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire, you name it. We have a lot of customers in Florida, so we do ship. 

Patch: What's the most popular item at Noack's? 

Michalowski: We have our German potato salad. [Also] our hotdogs, we have different kind of liverwurst, cold cuts, beef jerky, landjaeger. We don't use a lot of fillers so everything is pretty good. We use all natural spices. 

Patch: What would you say to a customer who hasn't been to Noack's?

Michalowski: What you're going to get here you're not going to get anywhere else. We haven't changed the recipe since we started; it's passed from generation to generation.