Thanks for stopping to read mmm-yoso!!! during this short week before Thanksgiving. Kirk is still vacationing and Ed (from Yuma) is enjoying the week before a holiday without having to rush and finish up things at work so Cathy is writing.
There has been a birthday breakfast post, an ordinary breakfast post, a lunch (sandwich and a steak and stein) post so now I will write about some more lunches and a dinner choice that's only available on Friday/Saturday/Sunday after 4 p.m., thereby still not covering even half of the menu available at this wonderful German Meat Market in store restaurant which has been in Carlsbad since 1977.Here's a photo of the actual entrance door into the market area, instead of the the side parking lot photos in all the other posts. The restaurant is to the far left as you walk in.
Lentil, vegetable beef, beef barley or oxtail soups are some of the daily three usual choices. We tend to order the soups instead of salads here, because the salads are ordinary and served with a packet of dressing you squeeze on yourself...the soups are made fresh daily.
The Lamb Chop meal ($9.99) is listed on the 'other' side of the menu board (which is above and on the way toward the cash register). Some people miss that other side of the menu board, although I've noticed the paper to go menus are stacked so that people can grab and read while waiting to order and pay.
The lamb chops? Excellent, beautifully grilled to a barely medium; tender, juicy and flavorful. Sides are the soup, mashed with gravy, a dinner roll and both red and regular sauerkraut (red kraut is sweet, the white kraut is more stringent (vinegar based) and has pieces of ham or bacon in it). There's a 'Cold Sandwich' menu board as well as a 'Hot Sandwich' menu board. Pretty much all the sandwiches are $8.99. So, the above pork cutlet sandwich was my choice one day; tender grilled pork cutlet on a fresh toasted roll with lettuce, tomato and grilled onion. I chose German potato salad as my side-it sort of reminds me of a smashed up baked potato (probably because of the bacon bits along with the fact that it is a warm potato salad).
Year round, an Oktoberfest Plate is available ($8.99) Three grilled sausages: Polish, Knackwurst and Bratwurst along with German potato salad, kraut and red cabbage and a roll. The sausages are made fresh in the store and have a wonderful mix of seasonings and fresh flavors.
Then there is my craving-stuffed cabbage ($9.49) a giant cabbage leaf stuffed with lean meatloaf then baked. It's topped with some sour cream and a tomato slice (excellent flavor, texture and temperature contrasts) and soup or salad, a sweet pickle slice, dinner roll and choice of cabbage...which I can never choose between, so I get both.
Looking up at the menu on the wall/ceiling, both the Steak and Stein and 'Special Steak' Dinners have been 'special occasion' meals. My brother was visiting last month and we drove up to Tip Top and had a little feast for about $15 a person.
Each us did choose a soup (two vegetable soups and one oxtail soup, which is pretty much a rich gravy rather than soupy), The Mister had chosen a Steak and Stein meal- so that's his stein (it was a tangerine wheat beer).
The Mister's New York Strip ($14.98, including the stein of beer). It was topped with the grilled onions (which I received unceremoniously on my plate right after photos were taken) and His chosen sides of a baked potato and broccoli, along with a slice of sweet pickle and a roll.
Look at the menu sign again, bottom right- Special Steak Dinner. Choose a steak, pay for it and it will be cooked for you...add $4.98 to get all the sides.
Choosing the filet mignon size and marble he wanted, my brother's choice still ended up costing around $10 (the filet is $24/lb) plus the $4.98, but he did get exactly what he wanted, and the butcher gives you a selection of seasoning to put on the filet. (The Steak and Stein filet choice is probably smaller.)
While waiting in line (all those people are in front of us waiting to order and pay). Notice the menu board ahead to the right above the refrigerated pastry case. {It's the third menu board from the left; those two are the breakfast menu}.
"Prime Rib Roast $14.98 From 4:30 - 8 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday only
A massive portion of prime rib served with mash potatoes and gravy, baked potato or french fries, red cabbage, sauerkraut or broccoli, soup or salad and a dinner roll".The first time that The Mister and I came to Tip Top Meats, the line was the same, the menu board was the same (except for the prices- the Prime Rib Roast was $4.98 then) and the food was almost the same; you also were given one rib bone on the plate back then.
This is a weekend evening only special and so very good. Yes, you are looking at two very thick slices of prime Prime rib plus everything else I usually choose for my plate.
I hope you have an organized, planned week ahead!
Tip Top Meats 6118 Paseo Norte Carlsbad, CA 92011 (760)438-2620 Open seven days 6 am-8 pm Website
Hi Cathy, I lived in SD 15 years+ and I've yet to visit sadly. The Oktoberfest Plate has my name written all over it... :)
Posted by: Dennis | Sunday, 22 November 2015 at 07:35 PM
Count me in for that Oktoberfest plate too. Such a great value for what you get.
May you and your Mister have a wonderful Thanksgiving.
Posted by: caninecologne | Sunday, 22 November 2015 at 08:42 PM
All the food look awesome! Good thing I was eating my lunch as I read this post, otherwise I'd be drooling endlessly...
Posted by: Hungry | Sunday, 22 November 2015 at 09:11 PM
It is a bit of a drive to get here, Dennis, but worth it. We actually dropped in the first time because we had just gone to the Pea Soup Andersens which had been located at the north east corner of that Palomar Airport Road exit(the windmill is still there) and I knew the name "Tip Top" was used at German businesses in my Detroit neighborhood. A great old fashioned butcher shop.
That Oktoberfest plate is great when you want to try some of the eight sausages that are sold in the store, cc. If you don't want to eat so much, there's a two of any sausage plate or a sausage sandwich(a photo in my third post). Happy thanksgiving week to all of you!
That's great, Hungry. I was wondering how you were doing. My photos are an attempt to share what I see on the plate and sometimes it works out well.
Posted by: Cathy | Monday, 23 November 2015 at 02:37 AM
I haven't been to Tip Top in years, and I really should go again soon. I remember when the Special Steak Dinner add on for the sides was $1.98!
Posted by: Sandy | Monday, 23 November 2015 at 07:23 AM
So hard to decide what I would order... Lamb chops, sausage, steak, prime rib... If only them had a sampler...
Posted by: Soo @ hungryones | Monday, 23 November 2015 at 08:37 AM
Oh yes, I remember the $1.98 add on price also, Sandy...such a good deal. Such great quality. I'm thinking the restaurant will be less crowded this Friday-Saturday-Sunday since people will be eating leftovers and not wanting to go out to eat...
Well, Soo, fora a taste of multiple sausages, other than the Oktoberfest plate, there's always the Big John Breakfast option. I mentioned it in my second ('ordinary' breakfast) link up there in the first paragraph. 3 eggs, potatoes and toast and All You Can Eat meat: you can order two meats the first time then one at a time for each subsequent reorder-bacon, ham, breakfast sausage, Polish sausage and bratwurst. Tip Top opens at 6 a.m. You're welcome.
Posted by: Cathy | Monday, 23 November 2015 at 11:14 AM
Looks good. And reminds me of all the red cabbage I regularly ate at my grandparents' house. But oddly, they called it blaukraut (blue cabbage).
Posted by: Ed (from Yuma) | Monday, 23 November 2015 at 07:10 PM
It's odd you mention that, Ed. Mom sometimes boiled eggs with the cabbage and the color was an odd purple...so we knew they were hard boiled. I liked the red cabbage because of the applesauce mom mixed in with it...her kraut is made with bacon and dried/rehydrated mushrooms.
Posted by: Cathy | Tuesday, 24 November 2015 at 04:03 PM
I just got back into town after three years in Philly, and I saw this post. I've lived here nearly my entire life never heard of this place. Went up, brought my dad, we loved it. I will so be back because the food, especially the sausage and the soup were unbelievable. Thank you so much for the recommendation!
Posted by: Loren | Friday, 04 December 2015 at 09:17 PM
I'm just smiling here while reading your comment, Loren. The county is so large and I know many people don't drive around as much as we do...so it's fun to share. We found Tip Top when searching for European food and a meat market when we first moved here...happened to walk in on a Friday when the line was people waiting for the 4 p.m. Prime Rib meal.
Posted by: Cathy | Saturday, 05 December 2015 at 03:31 AM