The Dutch Epicure Shop

Dutch Treat
The Dutch Epicure Shop, Litchfield
November 2025

This is one of those pages that I can’t fully justify existing on CTMQ. There are plenty of similar specialty shops around the state. Like, why does the Dutch Epicure Shop get a page when there are probably 100 Italian specialty shops?

Let’s see if I can convince myself…

But now I’m really wondering why I’m continuing to write because I have no intention of creating similar pages on a Polish market in New Britain, an Italian store in New Haven, a Vietnamese outlet in Hartford, or a Scandinavian shop in East Windsor.

Oh. Wait. I did actually do that last one. I guess, if I want to sleep better at night, I can say that that Scandi place and this Dutch place are unique in the state. Or at least “mostly unique.” (Yes, I’m aware of Scandinavian Butik in Norwalk, but I’m not aware of any other Dutch stores… so this page continues…)

Oh. Wait. Again. There was another Dutch shop, A Taste of Holland, also in Norwalk! And I felt the need to visit that place and write about it too! What am I even doing?

I’ll tell you what I’m doing. I’m going out to Litchfield and gettin’ me some Dutch stuff. Now, if you visited this store years ago, you need to know that it has moved down the road a bit. After 46 years in the small, squat building on Route 202 they moved 100 yards east to the handsome red colonial building on the same main drag. You should also know their hours are little wonky, so check their website before heading out for your Douwe Egberts, kroepoek. and kerstkrans.

The Dutch Epicure Shop is the brainchild of Wolfgang and Betsy Joas who emmigrated to the United States in 1967 from Germany and Holland respectively. Taking over the simple bakery from an older area Dutchman, the business has now expanded broadly. They sell a wide variety of European style pastries, breads, cookies and cakes made on the premises. You aren’t getting that many other places in Connecticut.

There are all sorts of Dutch food and Dutch groceries here of course, but they also have a slew of German meats and sausages, various European cheeses, chocolates from all over Europe, and more. Included in that “more” is a section of Indonesian foods:

Whatever you are looking for to create your perfect rijstafel meal, we have sambals, spices, ketjap manis, kroepoek, mie noodles, etc. in abundance!

Since you’re curious too, a rijstafel meal is, “an elaborate Dutch-Indonesian banquet featuring a central platter of rice surrounded by 8 to 40+ small Indonesian side dishes, condiments, and relishes.” For those of you not familiar with the centuries of colonialism, The Netherlands used to rule a bunch of countries, including Indonesia. This meal was, “created by Dutch colonizers in the Dutch East Indies to showcase imperial abundance and sample diverse regional cuisines. It is rare and considered too extravagant for everyday dining in modern Indonesia, but it remains a staple in the Netherlands – where it is recognized as intangible cultural heritage[!]”

Sorry, that last bit is crazy to me.

Also, if you are also not clear on the Holland vs. The Netherlands vs. Dutch thing, it’s pretty simple. Holland refers only to the yappy dog riding the dinosaur whereas The Netherlands is the whole thing.

Dutch just refers to the people, culture, and language. But let’s get back to the store. It has been in operation for over 50 years and the daughter of the couple mentioned above took it over in 2002. I met the daughter during my visit, and she was incredibly welcoming and helpful.

Despite it being in the larger building, the shop area really isn’t all that big. It’s like a corner store of just (largely) Dutch and German stuff. After all, how much Dutch and German stuff can there be. The most impressive thing here is that their baked goods are handmade as they always have been since 1967. Additionally, they make their own jams and jellies, much of it with seasonal fruit from their own gardens. (I somehow missed that or I’d have loaded up.)

The dumbest part of my missing that is that I believe their jams and jellies are right here, in the upper right of this picture I took:

It’s enough to make me yell “Christ! Stollen!” (pictured here, that’s a traditional German yeast-based fruit bread filled with dried fruits, candied citrus peel, nuts, warming spices, and often a core of marzipan, all heavily coated in powdered sugar. The “Christ” part refers to Christmas when this thing is traditionally eaten. So, you know… it’s fruitcake with extra sugar.)

The deli and cheese counter probably draws the most customers. “We have a full line of Schaller and Weber meats including Westphalian ham, black forest ham, headcheese, turkey, veal bologna, krakauer, liverwurst links and sausages in addition to Italian and German salamis, prosciutto, bacons and more.” They’ve got Dutch cheese, sure, but also a bunch of other stuff from Europe. “From French Triple cream, to Italian Taleggio, Swiss or French Gruyere, Swiss Appenzeller, French Morbier, Spanish Manchego, Dutch Truffle Cheese, Fresh Mozzarella and more.”

I had an informative conversation with Vilma Joas, the current owner of the shop. about cheese. Oh look, this one is lactose-free somehow. Perfect for my intolerant Asian wife and in-laws. I was offered a few little tastes and I settled on an aged Gouda and the lactose-free Gouda. When in The Netherlands, you get what’s Gouda.

Both were pretty gouda, but the bakery items were the bigger hits with the family.

Father Joas was a trained pastry chef from Germany, and he made traditional European bread, croissants, elaborate cakes, etc. Now Daughter Joas does the baking in-house. She apologized to me for it being near closing time (3 PM) and there not being the full morning selection of baked goodies. No need to apologize as I was plenty happy with the things I grabbed: katzenzungen and zandkoekjes.

I mean… who can pass up katzenzungen and zandkoekjes?

Katzenzungen translates to “cat tongues” which is… kind of hilarious to me. Joas described them as “like Milanos, but better.” Bold claim, ma’am, bold claim. Zandkoekjes are “sand cookies” which are shortbread cookies. So I purchased cat tongues and sand cookies. Note: Dutch is a crazy language.

Both were delicious and were eaten up in a blink of an eye. (The cheese lasted longer because, well, it’s cheese not cookies.)

The Dutch Epicure Shop has items that aren’t readily available in Connecticut and a lot of it is interesting and certainly unique. But it’s the bakery and other homemade goods (pies, stews, soups) that are the reason I’ll be revising the shop in the future.

The Dutch Epicure Shop
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