The Linkery is such a mellow place, it may take you awhile to realize that you have walked in on a delicious little restauranting revolution.

Your first clue that The Linkery is not your average restaurant may be the huge chalkboard taking up dining room wall space amidst all the blonde wood and low-key lighting. There you’ll see not only the day’s specials, but also a wealth of info about their ingredients, revealing a deep dedication to small regional producers. Or maybe it’ll hit you as you survey the menu, and realize they not only redo that menu on a weekly basis, but also create all of their sausages in-house, and serve cask-conditioned beers from some of the best local microbreweries. Certainly you’ll figure out something is up when you look at your bill and see the notice “We do not accept tips—all costs are included on each check.”

Jay Porter, the owner of the Linkery, is a man with a mission, as you’ll quickly discover from the restaurant’s extensive website. He aims to present what he calls “handmade cuisine,” featuring terrific ingredients from equally-devoted producers, in a casual, modestly-priced neighborhood restaurant in which the staff and customers form an interactive community. In fact, this emphasis on community underpins one of the meanings of the restaurant’s name, referencing the links the restaurant forms amongst its customers as well as between them and the sources of their food.

But mostly, the “links” meant here are of the sausage variety, and they are definitely something special. There are almost six dozen varieties in The Linkery’s repertoire, running the gamut from bratwurst to creamed truffle to boudin noir to seafood to you-name-it. On any given night there will be three or four types available, which you can add to any dish on the menu whether it’s sausage-based or not. These beauties are made in small batches, packed into natural casings, and contain no nitrites or other artificial additives whatsoever. They’re also made with a lower percentage of fat than traditional sausage recipes, proving that a healthy sausage does not have to be an oxymoron.

Oh yes—might I add that these sausages are seriously delicious? Un-gunked up by artificial additives, the high-quality meats and seasonings are able to shine through, especially after a flame-grilling that crisps up the nicely chewy natural casings. Just a couple of examples: their Boerewors, a South African beef/pork/lamb sausage, showcases the wonderful lightly gamey flavor of the lamb. And their Kasekrainer, a Viennese street-food favorite, spikes its cheese-enriched goodness with a lively jolt of cayenne. The knowledgeable staff will be happy to suggest which sausage goes best with which dish on the menu, as well as great matches from their extensive wine list and current beer offerings.

As I said, the menu varies weekly, depending on available ingredients and how they inspire the staff. But you can always count on a variety of sausage dishes, from the traditional (a gorgeous choucroute featuring not only the sausage of your choice but also house-made bacon fabricated from Duroc pork) to the creative (sausage tacos, in which the sliced links are bedded down in flame-grilled corn tortillas with all the trimmings). Other menu regulars include a fine hunk o’ steak, some surprisingly excellent vegetarian entrees (including a “Mexico City style” lasagna with some of the smoothest, silkiest whole-wheat pasta I have ever tasted, again made in-house). Then there’s a truly outrageous burger made of house-ground beef and topped with a fried free-range egg—and optionally, one of the house sausages, for those who really want to max out their cholesterol.

Oh, and one additional thing I love about The Linkery: the opportunities for light dining as well as more substantial meals. It’s refreshing to find a restaurant with so many options for me to put together a light meal that fits well within my health regimen, with just the amount of high-quality meat I desire and no more, accompanied by vegetable sides that receive the same loving care as the main. It’s also great to know that if I bring along one of my super-carnivore friends, they’ll have a host of satisfying big-meat options to choose from. And regardless of what either of us choose, we know it’s going to be excellent.

I do not have any connections with this business. I've been here three to five times.