After being in operation for 31 years, the mysterious-looking Sausage King on West Washington Street still attracts new customers who have a nose for sniffing out specialty food stores.

Rick Nelson of North Park and his partner, Joe Gorst, however, are no strangers to the shop’s hardcore German product line. Nelson has been shopping there for 30 years and Joe for the past 22 years, since the couple first met.

“It’s like walking into an old German sausage place from 1894,” says Nelson, referring to the store’s dim and antiquated interior. “They’re all talking German whenever we go in there. And we love buying different things from them every week.”

Sausage King’s product line is unmistakably arcane for modern San Diego – a treasure chest of Old World sausages and cold cuts made daily in the shop’s back room. Things like Teawurst, Smoked Jowl and Paprika Speck (bacon) sit alongside more familiar-looking rings of Polish Sausage, Bratwurst, Frankfurters and wieners in the store’s commodious deli case. Pairs of sausages hang drying from a rack behind the counter, adding authenticity and a smoky aroma to the space. And the shelves, though few, contain a surprising number of imported non-perishables from the Mother Country, ranging from cake mixes and canned soups to mustards and hearty Kommis bread, which was popular among German soldiers during the wars.

Owner Fred Spenner, a native of Kassel, Germany, says: “We carry about 40 different types of fresh meats. And they’re all made here.”

The various spices used in the sausages, he says, include nutmeg, parsley, mustard seed and white pepper. And for those who can’t tell the difference between a Frankfurter and wiener, Spenner points out that the former is made with pork, and wieners contain a mix of pork and beef with slightly different spices.

Nelson is particularly fond of the shop’s Swedish potato sausage, which must be ordered in advance. It’s made with veal, hamburger and potatoes and goes well with lingonberries. “The store’s smoked pork chops and sauerkraut are also killer,” he adds. “And we like to buy their dry sausages and hang them in our kitchen for a few days. The smell from all those spices permeate the house and create a nice taste aroma.”

Spenner recommends that other customers do the same because “we can’t keep the dry sausages in the store long enough for them to get hard and aged. It’s best to hang them for about two or three days in room temperature before they become nice and firm.”

Nelson and Gorst also swing through the store about once a week during their lunch hours for the homemade veal sandwiches served on Italian rolls. “They’re wonderful,” Nelson exclaims. “And the pork they sell is the most tender in town.”

In catering to the high number of German nationals who visit, Spenner ships in oven-ready geese from Canada during the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons. “The goose is the German equivalent of turkey around the holidays,” he says. The birds sell for about $2.80 a pound and should be ordered a few weeks before either holiday.

“The low cost of the products doesn’t reflect their high quality,” Nelson concludes. “And the customers will turn you on to new things, such as one of them who pointed out the fried fish in a can. I still haven’t tried that yet.”

Sausage King is located at 811 W. Washington St. in Mission Hills. For more information, call (619) 297-4301.