Monkette Checks Out The Goodies At Ness Konditori

Ray and his mom Helga are here every morning before daybreak 7 days a week baking rolls , breads, and pastries. the sign out front says Ness Konditori but just about everbody calls it the German Bakery. Over the years as the population has shifted away from people with European traditions to Carribean Islanders this is the last bakery left catering to us older folk who've lived here just about forever. The Swiss Pastry Shop on 125th Street is long gone. It's been many years since Publix Markets bakeries had seperate entrances and were called the Danish Bakery.

Ness just keeps hanging in there and people still come from miles around. The crust on Helga's turnovers and pies is really flakey and the rolls and breads have a real crust, not just a darker brown outside covering up the bread inside.

I'd driven past the place hundreds of times when I was the photographer for nearby Barry College but it was an era when I was content to let the wife do the food shopping. When I first met my next wife Claudia about twenty-five years ago she helped out at the Konditori during the morning rush before going to her job at an antique shop. Her fluent German was still a big help in those days. She introduced me to a roll called a salt stick. I love them! Helga also makes a healthier version. Instead of being rolled in coarse salt it's covered with poppy and caraway seeds. They're just as tasty and better for your blood pressure.

Ness Konditori is located on the east side of West Dixie Highway just north of the intersection with N.E. 2nd Ave. at about 118th St. Stop in and try a guava tunrnover before the day's supply is gone. Tell them that Monkette sent you!