For the past two years, he and Marc have pimped their cured meats and salumi at the Pearl Street and Highland Farmers' Market, and Jeff, a former golf pro, who was laid off in 2009, also did time behind a meat counter at a specialty market. But it was his grandfather, a butcher for 27 years, who taught him the tricks of the trade. Butchery, he notes, "runs in our blood."
The charcuterie/butcher shop, which also sells gourmet dry goods like salts, preserves and pasta, specializes in meat -- but not just dry-cured meats and salumi. "Charcuterie is a lot more than just dry-cured meats -- it's head cheese and terrines and galantines and pâtés and all of that old stuff," explains Jeff, who went to France last year and stayed with a French butcher. "Not only do I want this to be the neighborhood meat shop that people can trust, but I also want to teach people all about charcuterie."
The inventory will change, but at the moment, Jeff and Marc have stocked the cases with Vintage all-natural beef from Tonali's Market, salami, speck and chorizo, fresh sausages, including a beef-and-pork Argentine-style sausage, duck confit, mortadella, coppa, lardo and lomo, bacon, La Quercia prosciutto, soppresata and filsette, along with olives and cornichons and a handful of cheeses, pâtés and terrines. "Most of the things we carry are either made in-house or from small companies, and we're going to carry some stuff from Il Mondo Vecchio, too, but I gotta go hang out and figure out what I want," says Jeff.In the meantime, the shop is open seven days a week, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. -- at least for now. "I gotta be here as much as possible. I've got lots of meat to sell," quips Jeff.
