The Local Pig

Where's the bacon?

This the mural on the wall of what may very well be our new favorite place.  It's called "The Local Pig" and it's just a stone's throw from our house here in the Historic Northeast area of KC in an unassuming old building at 2618 Guinnotte Avenue.  It seems fitting that a charcuterie (that's fancy talk for butcher shop) would be tucked into the East Bottoms among the railroad lines that serviced the stockyards back in the late 1800's to early 1900's.  Catty-corner from the building is the old Heims brewery fire station and a block down is the infamous Knuckleheads, one of the best place to catch blues or honky tonk in the country.

You're greeted at the door by a huge piece of slate that notes their hours (10:30 a.m to 7:30 p.m. daily) and their fanciful pig logo on the door. 

 

Through the door is the butcher shop, and around back is their newly opened sandwich truck called Pigwich. They were busy this Saturday afternoon but our grumbling tummies dictates that we wait in line for their burgers and fresh chips (and a Coke) for just $8.00. Delicious!  Then we headed in to what I can only refer to as "meat heaven".

 

Click to biggify if you want to read the menu.

Once inside, the sunny yellow walls frame the long row of meat cases and the chalkboard that list the current specials. The stained glass windows, butcher paper roller, and wooden fencing surrounding the cases makes this feel like an old-school butcher shop.  That and the fact that folks were choppin' and sawin' meat in the back right out where you can see them rather than behind a set of swinging doors.  

 

To the left are freshly cut heritage breed pork chops, roasts, lamb, goat, Kansas City strips and a rib-eye that could have served as a dinner plate.  They're twice the size of a standard cut ribeye.  Everything is local and hormone and steroid-free. 

 

It's at this point that J. started wiping the slobber off his chin and I moved on to see what was in the middle case.  It's here that I found what I was looking for - 4 different kinds of bacon.  Italian herb, jalapeno, black pepper and the 4th I can't remember.  All super thick cut and...well...this is when my mouth started watering.

 

 

To the right are free range eggs, freshly made sausages, pate, and cheese and cream from the local Shatto dairy farm.  If you haven't tried their milk, you haven't had milk!

We walked out the door with a 1/2 pound of black pepper bacon (for tomorrow morning!), 10 pork, smoked gouda and bacon meatballs, and a pound of fresh pepperoni cut in 1/2" thicknesses.  All was wrapped in white butcher paper and then placed in a string-wrapped box. The pepperoni barely made it all the way home before J. was munching on it.

Butcher Boxes (a semi-CSA)

 

Folks looking to sample a variety of what TLP has to offer can subscribe for the weekly or bi-weekly "butcher box" containing 5, 7, or 10 pounds of locally-sourced meats and complements such as pastas, soups, spice blends or fresh herbs.  A 5-pound box is just $35.00 weekly which is almost enough meat for an entire week's meals if you're carnivore's like us.

Hands-On Classes 

But this isn't just a butcher shop - one thing I really like is that they also offer hands-on classes on making sausages, breaking down a pig from snout to tail, and making charcuterie. I've added their classes for 2013 to the Cranky Puppy Events Calendar for those of you that are local and want to check them out.  But  I'm warning you...they fill up FAST. We were looking at the Whole Hog Butchering class for May last week and it's now full and so is June.  I'm not sure I want to be butching a hog in the middle of a sultry July or August, so I may see if J. will sign us up as a birthday present to me in September. 

 

Yep, I'm not your traditional kind of girl...