There is a small building on Blackwell Street, just off Northwest Highway by the Half Price Books, that has been quietly doing things the right way for over fifty years. Henk’s European Deli & Black Forest Bakery was founded by a Dutch immigrant named Henk, and his sons and daughter — Hanneke, who has been described by more than one regular as one of the finest servers in Dallas — still run it today. The tagline on the website says “A little bit of Amsterdam in Dallas.” That is not a stretch.
The room is small and always packed and smells of fresh bread and dark coffee from the moment you open the door. Beer stein mugs line the walls. European imports pour from the taps. The staff knows the regulars and treats first-timers the same way — Hanneke will tell you honestly whether the soup of the day is worth ordering, which is the kind of server interaction that most restaurants have trained out of their staff entirely. When it was packed on a cold Sunday and a family had to wait for a table, they spent the time touring the bakery case and reported gaining ten pounds just looking at it. That is the review.
The food covers Dutch and German territory with equal confidence. The Hot Amsterdam — a warm open-faced sandwich that regulars order without hesitation — is the savory anchor of the lunch menu. The corned beef sandwich has its own devoted following. The schnitzel comes with all the expected accompaniments and without compromise. The German sausages — a genuine rarity in Dallas — are the order for anyone who wants to understand what this kitchen is actually doing. The potato salad is the German version, not the American one, dressed with vinegar and bacon rather than mayo, and it is the side dish that makes the meal.
For breakfast the sausage patties and the bacon — thick, properly rendered, described repeatedly as having tremendous flavor — are the reason the room fills up on weekend mornings before most of Dallas has finished its first cup of coffee. There is a Gouda grilled cheese that doesn’t appear on the menu but can be requested, and the kitchen will make it, which tells you something about how this place operates.
The bakery case is the other reason to come, and for some people it is the only reason they need. The Black Forest Cake — chocolate cake with fresh whipped cream and dark cherries and chocolate shavings, made from the original recipe — has been on that counter for decades and earns every mention it gets. The Swiss Madrisa cake is light, airy, and fruity in a way that makes people who grew up eating it in Europe go quiet for a moment when they taste it here.
The White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies are the ones that get mentioned by name in reviews. The Chess Pie — elusive, old-fashioned, the pie that Stephan Pyles once told us was among his favorites — shows up here when it’s available and is worth calling ahead about. Whole cakes run from $39 for an 8-inch to $69 for a 12-inch, with free chocolate inscriptions included. The bread is baked on the premises and arrives at the table the way bread is supposed to arrive.
Henk’s is at 5811 Blackwell Street, Dallas. Closed Monday. Tuesday through Thursday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., Friday and Saturday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (214) 987-9090.
