Located at 206 13 St. in Largo, the Amish Country Store is a mom-and-pop, cottage-style building stocked with down-home gourmet goodies, made the hard, old-fashioned way. Jars of delicious jams are stacked upon stacks on shelves, near cane sugar sodas, like Kickapoo Joy Juice, Hank’s, Knee-high, and Kutz Town. Chips are trucked in from Amish territory in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and the deli is high-quality, making this store an edible heaven.
The current owners, Tomasz Szmetki and Iwona Szymetka, have been running the Amish Country Store for the last 7 years of the store’s 25-year history. Under their stewardship, the store has been de-cluttered and curated to enhance customer experience. “It used to be really crowded in here. The store is much more open now,” says Tomasz Szmetki, explaining that they keep only the best products, a curatorial move, he says, that has enhanced customer experience.
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Amish Country Store slings “Shoo-Fly Pie” and fresh-pressed Cubans
Tampa Bay is renowned for its extensive Cuban sandwich culture, with an annual festival dedicated to the classic. Co-owner Tomasz claims that the Amish Country Store has one of the best Cubans around. “I ate the Cuban sandwiches here for months straight,” says Tomasz, “and I haven’t had a better one anywhere else.”
Eating the same thing for months straight is as serviceable a marker for quality as any, I think. And the impressive quality of the meats and cheeses in the Amish Country Store’s deli doubly attests—everything is super fresh.
Besides the signature ham and high-quality cheeses in the deli, besides the chicken salad, and the pressed sandwiches, the Amish Country Store specializes in “Shoo-Fly Pie”: a Pennsylvania Dutch pie made traditionally from barrel molasses, flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon, eggs and water.
This hidden gem is well worth a visit, and many more visits after. Check out their Facebook here.
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