Otto's Kids' Club

If you live within a ten mile radius of Germantown, I'm guessing you've visited Otto's Market. You can do a good bit of your weekly marketing there. If you like to linger and chat, fabulous things come out of the kitchen for breakfast and lunch to encourage a sit-down. All this and the best coffee in the tri-village area (that's Red Hook, Tivoli, and Germantown if you're not from around here). You may even have spotted me at a little table in the window with my favorite coffee date.


What you may not know, is that Otto's has a Kids' Club. You may not know because it's a fairly exclusive little membership.


Otto, think avuncular grocer with a campy sense of humor, makes the invitations himself. There is an interview.



A photo is taken for the membership card. Yes, these are card-carrying members.



References are checked. The steering committee convenes (I'm thinking this is the Lays guy, a neighborhood cat, and Otto's accountant). If they smile upon an applicant, the reward (apart from the obvious thrill of carrying the card) is a dive into the treasure chest stashed under the register.

I tried to get my little guy to pick the clicky cricket toy, but after a brief dalliance with candy lipstick, he walked away with Smarties.

Go to Otto's. Take a kid. Have lunch. Clean your plate and hope for an invite.

Otto's Market is at 215 Main St. conveniently opposite Jim Lawlor's liquor store. Otto's is open Mon-Sat 7-7, Sun 7-3. Phone 518.537.7200.