Advocate magazine snubbed the 305 earlier this year when it released its list of the 15 gayest cities in America, giving a nod to Fort Lauderdale, ranked two, and Orlando, ranked four.
It wasn't Miami's decline as a gay capital that inspired the folks from Lester's in Wynwood and Proper Sausages to host the first ever "Sausage Fest," but when gay pride parades start popping up in Texas, someone has to take it to the next level.
Frederick (Freddy) and Danielle Kaufmann, the husband and wife team behind Proper Sausages, have become fast favorites among chefs and farmers' market enthusiasts since they started slinging gourmet links earlier this year. They'll be grilling up four varieties of their handmade, Berkshire pork sausages this Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. outside Lester's in Wynwood.
On deck are their "proper sausage," a British-style banger filled with ground pork, bread crumbs and spices; the "dub," a ripping-hot sausage stuffed with habanero, thyme, garlic, allspice, and smoked pork; the prune and cognac, with brandy-soaked prunes joining the pork; and a gluten-free chorizo.
"We make sausage in the English style, which includes bread crumbs, so it just turned out that chorizo was the first one to go gluten-free," Freddy said.
Until January, Freddy was a cook at Michy's, Michelle Bernstein's flagship restaurant on Biscayne Boulevard, and Danielle worked the front of the house in restaurants around town. Well before then, Danielle, a British expat, found no one in Miami making sausages that could hold their own against what she grew up on. So the two began turning out their own links and testing them on family and friends.
"The guys at work liked them a lot, and our friends liked them a lot," Freddy said. "We had to get through that initial anxiety of whether or not our friends were just being nice to us."
The two knew they didn't want to work for someone else forever. They struck out on their own in late January, taking a stall in the Yellow Green Farmers' Market in Hollywood grilling up samples and selling four or five of their varieties each weekend. Since the, Proper Sausages have popped up everywhere from Daniel Serfer's Blue Collar restaurant to the brunch menu at Giorgio Rapicavoli's Eating House pop-up restaurant. They're also regulars at the Pinecrest Farmer's Market and the Upper Eastside Farmer's Market.
Proper Sausage's repertoire also includes a lamb and harissa sausage, a pork link stuffed with figs and blue cheese, and a venison sausage filled with cherries soaked in whiskey. Thanks Bambi.
So gather up the gang and head out to Lester's for some sizzling tube meat, along with Lester's selection of craft beers and select wines. $12 gets you all the swine you can handle, plus a $2 discount on a pound of sausage (about four links) to take home and enjoy far away from prying eyes.
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