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GOURMET NEWS AUGUST 2014 www.gourmetnews.com Retailer News RETAILER NEWS 1 2 BRIEFS Cutting-Edge Craft and Creative Cuisine Come Together at D.C.-Area's Urban Butcher BY LUCAS WITMAN When a guest walks into Urban Butcher, a co-located restaurant and specialty meats shop in Silver Springs, Md., he or she is greeted by a giant glass wall revealing the store's expansive meat cellar. Customers marvel at loins of pork, sides of beef, salamis and more, all hanging prominently, begging to be admired. It is immediately clear that the owners of any shop where aging meat is displayed as if it were fine art are deeply passionate about the craft of butchery. And listening to Head Butcher Matt Levere discuss his love of the craft, it is impossible not to become infected with a similar appreciation for the skill and cre- ativity that go into producing gourmet spe- cialty meats. "It's so much fun as a butcher and as a chef – learning and creating," said Levere. "When you're putting these things out to customers and coming up with brand new items, it's an experience for them as well." Started just a few short months ago in December 2013, Urban Butcher has quickly made a name for itself as the place to go in the Washington, D.C.-area for expertly crafted raw meat and charcuterie. However, it is the fact that Urban Butcher operates si- multaneously as a butcher shop, a retail space and a full-service restaurant, that makes this space particularly unique. In terms of drawing in customers, Urban Butcher benefits from the fact that it brings in both restaurant guests and grocery shop- pers. However, very often, guests who come in to eat at the restaurant end up leaving with a filled grocery bag. And those who come in to pick up a steak end up sticking around for a gourmet meal. This is because, as the restaurant utilizes the meats directly from the butcher case, impressed dinner guests are encouraged to take the product home to experiment with in their own kitchens. And for shoppers seen mar- veling at the butcher shop offerings, the store offers to take the product into the restaurant's kitchen where it can be imme- diately cooked up and served for dinner. From a logistical standpoint, Levere ar- gues that there is a unique benefit to oper- ating a retail shop in conjunction with a restaurant. At Urban Butcher, product moves fast and is continually replenished. "It's awesome, because we can sell our products in the retail case and also in the restaurant. Everything we butcher goes right into the menu," Levere said. "Everything is always fresh … It's nice to see that aspect of it. It helps move product." For Levere, who has worked in restaurant kitchens and gro- cery store meat departments, he finds his work at Urban Butcher, which combines elements of both positions, as particularly rewarding. This is because, for him, when a chef and a butcher work together, they can create magic. "I think it's a great relationship between the chef and I, because I know how to butcher so well. I know meat like the back of my hand and that's what I specialize in. Here's a guy that has been cooking for his entire life. And he knows that like the back of his hand," he said. For Levere, butchery is truly an artform. And by combining his technical ex- pertise with the chef 's creative vi- sion, Urban Butcher is able to offer its customers something they would never find anywhere else. The specialty meats offered at Urban Butcher are endless, and the store is constantly adding innovative new products to its meat cases. There is hickory- smoked bacon, handmade salami, pâté, prosciutto, sausage and marinated chicken. The store produces a broad selec- tion of authentic European charcuterie, in- cluding lomo, bresola, filleto and more. And the shop's 30-day aged beef short loin and aged ribeyes are cut to order, allowing the customer to choose the precise thick- ness that best meets his or her needs. One standout among Urban Butcher's of- ferings is a unique Greek sausage called loukaniko. Levere argues that if one is to try only a single product from the store's meat case, it is that one. "The loukaniko is outstanding," he said. "It's a spicy lamb salami with flavors of fennel and orange zest. You get the fennel and then you get the orange immediately. And then right at the end the cayenne pepper hits your tongue. It's a really nice experience." Urban Butcher focuses on sourcing all of its meat from local farms, including Au- tumn Olive Farms in Virginia, Creek View Farms in West Virginia, Piemonte Farms in Maryland and Shenandoah Meat Co-op in the Shenandoah Valley. For Levere, the quality of the animals is immediately ap- parent in the butchered product. "The quality is incredibly better than anything we can get anywhere else. The supermarket does not compare. The flavor is so much better. The customer can really tell the dif- ference between the massively bred animals compared to the small batch animals," he said. In addition, because the animals are all pasture-raised by small farmers, cus- tomers can feel confident that the salamis they are snacking on are made from ani- mals that led stress-free lives. Although currently enjoying its first year in operation, Urban Butcher has big plans for its future life. The store is currently ex- panding into local farmers markets, bring- ing its products to shoppers all over the D.C. area. In addition, Levere said the store also has plans to ex- pand physically, even- tually opening up a new, larger butcher production area. For those who think a steak is a steak and a salami is a salami, Urban Butcher works to show its customers that a great deal of craft is involved in produc- ing these items. When a skilled butcher and a skilled chef are involved, an animal can be transformed in any number of ways. According to Levere, "If you really under- stand the animal and what it has to offer, the possibilities are endless." GN Whole Foods Market Simplifying Seafood Sustainability Ratings Brought together through four years of partnership between Whole Foods Market, the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch ® program and The Safina Center, Whole Foods will now employ Monterey Bay Aquarium's science-based criteria and methodology for rating the sustainability of wild-caught seafood, offering consumers consistent recommendations from trustworthy nonprofit conservation organizations. Whole Foods Market is dedicated to being fully transparent about the sustainability status of the seafood offered in its stores. Currently, the company's policy is to source as much seafood certified by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) as possible. When MSC-certified options are not available, customers can use Whole Foods' sustainability ratings drawn from MBA and The Safina Center to choose green- and yellow-rated options. Whole Foods removed all red-rated seafood from stores in 2012. Red ratings indicate that the species is overfished, poorly managed or caught in ways that cause harm to habitats or other wildlife. Follow Your Heart Names MOM's Organic Market Retailer of the Year Follow Your Heart, the leading provider of natural and delicious vegetarian and vegan foods, has selected MOM's Organic Market as the winner of the brand's 2013 Retailer of the Year award. MOM's Organic Market has carried Follow Your Heart products for over five years, and this recognition serves as an acknowledgment of the value and support the store and its employees have provided to the brand. Follow Your Heart created its annual Retailer of the Year award in 2012 to recognize a single retail partner that has contributed to the success of the brand throughout the entire year. The winner must demonstrate a commitment to providing healthier food options to customers, to acting as a steward of the environment and to having compassion for all living things. Last year's winner was Mother's Market, located in Southern California. Artisanal Online Grocery Service artizone Announces Expansion Artizone, an online grocery shopping service offering a curated collection of artisanal foods from local artisans and purveyors delivered to your door, recently announced plans to expand into five new markets by the end of the year. Currently, artizone serves customers in Chicago and Dallas. Austin, Texas, the first of the five new markets to launch, is slated to begin deliveries in August. Subsequent cities will be announced in the coming months. Artizone Ltd. is an online grocery shopping and home delivery business. Founded by parents who love to cook, it currently serves over 7,500 homes and sources its products from over 150 specialty local shops in Chicago and Dallas, including local butchers, fish mongers, cheese purveyors, farmers, bakers and more. For more information, visit www.artizone.com.

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