Members
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These are the members of The Butcher’s Guild, added as they join. Below each bio, you will see a symbol. The symbols represent Cutters, Curers and Creators. We use the categories to represent the particular strengths of each members, so they can be resources for one another. Most of our members have skills in all three categories, but focus on one. Our Charter Members are consummate communicators and passionate professionals who are leaders in our organization. CUTTERS: Butchers in the strictest sense, meat cutters and specialists in breaking down animals. CURERS: Meat curing masters, charcutiers, salumists and bacon-makers.
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Chris Arentz, Avedano’s, Charter Member Chris spent 5 years in Tuscany, Italy cooking in restaurants, which finally led him to Dario Cecchini’s restaurant in Panzano. He trained with Dario breaking pigs and beef and learning the “old world” tradition of butchering. Upon returning to San Francisco he sought a butcher shop that shared that same mentality of butchery. Avedano’s had exactly what I was looking for and thus, was a perfect fit. |
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Guy Arnone, Salumeria Rosi, Charter Member Arnone found butchery at his family’s restaurant in Orange, California. After studying under the guidance of Master Butcher Dario Cecchini in Tuscany, Gaetano (Guy) returned to the states and to become the butcher at Eataly New York City, where he continued his goal of communicating to butchers and carnivores the traditions and craft that he has come to respect and love. He is now manifesting the craft at Dickson’s Farmstand in NYC’s Chelsea Market. |
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Pete Balistreri, Tender Greens, P. Balistreri Salumi Pete Balistreri, a first generation Sicilian-American and San Diego native, was born and raised in the close-knit community of Point Loma, where he earned himself a full football scholarship to San Diego State University. After graduating from SDSU, Balistreri headed to the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco to follow his passion for food.Balistreri then worked at Rose Pistola and Masa’s and Union Square Pan Pacific Hotel, where he met his mentor-to-be, Chef Erik Oberholtzer. Oberholtzer subsequently enlisted Balistreri to work as Lead Chef for One Pico.Wanting to get back to his San Diego roots, Balistreri left to work at The Lodge at Torrey Pines. Following three years at The Lodge, Balistreri reunited with Oberholtzer and his partners, David Dressler and Matt Lyman, to work on developing Tender Greens. The 33-year-old chef has since been working on developing Tender Greens in San Diego, which opened June 2008, and helms the new location as Executive Chef. His second San Diego Location will open in La Jolla in 2012. In 2010 Pete was named one of 50 people to watch in San Diego Magazine, one of Americas 50 Best Butchers in Marissa Guggiana’s Primal Cuts and was a finalist in the first annual Good Food awards in San Francisco with his Smoked Prosciutto. In 2011, P.Balistreri Salumi hit the wholesale market. |
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Uli Bennewitz, Weeping Radish Farm Brewery is the owner and founder of Weeping Radish Farm Brewery. His brother encouraged him to open a brewery by describing it as a machine you put money into one end and it spits money out from the other end. The Brewery is located in Jarvisburg, North Carolina, and it happens to be the oldest microbrewery in all of North Carolina. All of the beers made at this brewery are made with natural ingredients. This place has expanded greatly since it first opened in 1986, it now includes and all natural butcher’s facility, an organic farm, and it even has a restaurant. |
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Rusty Bowers, Pine Street Market Rusty is the owner of Pine Street Market, in Avondale Estates, a suburb of Atlanta Georgia. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America, he acted as a sous chef at the restaurant Pano’s and Paul’s in Atlanta. In 2009, he decided to open the Pine Street market, with only his wife and one other employee. Bowers’ focus on high quality charcuterie paid off when he won first place at the “Good Food Awards Ceremony” in San Francisco, in 2011. In the future, the Bowers plan to expand their business by opening a line of boutique artisan pork products. |
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David Budworth, Dave The Butcher, Charter Member David Budworth AKA “Dave the Butcher” started his career in 1989 at the Ashbury Market in San Francisco. With the 2 words on a poultry box “Edible Feet”, he was hooked. He landed in the jungle outback of northern Australia where he worked on a farm for some bikers learning to slaughter and process wild pigs. He has since worked under many local butcher masters. Dave now manages Marina Meats, cuts at Avedano’s Holly Park Market, and is the butcher for Fatted Calf’s Pork Happy Hour every Wednesday. As well as teaching classes, Dave is a bartender of a butcher- full of facts, recipes and butcher lore. |
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Bryan Butler, Benjamin Runkle, Salt & Time Ben Runkle learned the art of butchery at Marin Sun Farms Butcher Shop in Pt. Reyes Station, CA, Avedano’s Holly Park Market in San Francisco, CA and the Fatted Calf Charcuterie in Napa, CA. He and his wife Natalie Davis moved to Austin in 2009 and launched Salt & Time. Salt & Time makes small batch cured meats, pickles and other products. They source all of our meats and vegetables from local farmers and prepare them using traditional preservation techniques. They are proud to be part of the Central Texas food chainBryan Butler is a master butcher with over fifteen years of experience. Formally trained at Texas State Technical College, he has worked as a butcher in a wide variety of settings. Bryan has been Austin’s neighborhood butcher for well over a decade, and spent six years as the butcher at Wheatsville Coop before joining Salt & Time in October 2010. |
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Christian Caiazzo, Osteria Stellina Executive Chef and owner of Osteria Stellina in Point Reyes Station, Ca., Caiazzo is renowned for his locally-sourced Italian food. From sous chef at Wolfgang Puck’s Postrio in San Francisco to Executive Chef at San Francisco’s TwentyFour, a fine dining restaurant at San Francisco’s PacBell Park. After moving to Point Reyes Station, he worked at Cowgirl Creamery and opened Toby’s Coffee Bar. He continues to run Toby’s and offers a famed grilled cheese sandwich at the Point Reyes farmers market.  |
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Sean Canavan, Tender Greens Sean Canavan previously worked in the kitchens at Left Bank in Larkspur, La Folie, and Chapeau! Was executive chef at Blue Stem Brasserie, sourcing sustainably produced grass-fed beef from highly regarded purveyors, with an emphasis on whole-animal utilization. Following his passion for butchery, Sean is focusing on his sausage and pate making to compliment his whole animal butchery skills at Tender Greens of Walnut Creek. |
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Joe Cates, Star Meats is the owner and head butcher at Star Meats located at 3068 Claremont Avenue, in Berkeley, California. Joe visits local festivals, such as Day of the Duck and gives demonstrations on how to debone the breasts of a duck, make a meal out of duck legs, prepare duck stock, and the basics of rendering duck fat. He also participates in the Oink and Moo Convention showing the locals some of his favorite and famous sausage creations! You can always find Joe behind the counter of Star Meats, visit him soon! |
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Chris Cosentino, Incanto, Boccalone, Charter Member Chris is a veteran of top-notch restaurant kitchens including Red Sage in Washington, D.C. and Rubicon, Chez Panisse, Belon, & Redwood Park in the Bay Area. Since opening Incanto in 2002, Chris has developed close relationships with local farmers through his dedicated involvement with the San Francisco Ferry Plaza Farmers’ Market and other Bay Area farmer’s markets. A part-time professional bicyclist, Chris enjoys spending time away from the kitchen participating in 24-hour endurance races on his single-gear mountain bike. |
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Craig Deihl, Cypress, Charter Member Undoubtedly one of the South’s most talented young chefs, Deihl composed a cookbook – Cypress: A Lowcountry Grille. Deihl was recently asked to be a contributor to the Smithsonian Institute’s One Fish, Two Fish, Crawfish, Bluefish, a cookbook and guide to sustainable seafood. In 2009, Deihl developed an Artisan Meat Share, a CSA-inspired model for locally-produced charcuterie. A partnership with the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) and Carolina Heritage Farm afforded Deihl the opportunity to be the first chef in over 100 years to cook the rare American Guinea Hog. In 2010, Deihl was the recipient of the James Beard Foundation nomination for Best Chef – Southeast. He was also named Chef of the Year by the Charleston chapter of the American Culinary Foundation. |
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Mark De Nittis, Il Mondo Vecchio Salumi, Charter Member Part of the new breed of entrepreneurial professional chefs, Massachusetts-born Mark DeNittis is a first-generation Italian-American who grew up surrounded by the food of his European heritage. Diverse yet focused, DeNittis is the owner and operator of Il Mondo Vecchio, Colorado’s only USDA-inspected Salumeria; founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meat, a professional certificate butchery program; and President of Rocky Mountain Trade Enterprise, LLC. |
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Andrea Deibler, City Provisions Delicatessen is the head butcher at City Provisions Delicatessen in Illinois. As head butcher Deibler creates various tasty meat selections. She does this from scratch daily and customers love it. Deibler is not only a great butcher, she is also a charcuterie and sausage maker. |
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Ariel Diamond, Food Genius Ariel Diamond has worked as a butcher, baker, chocolate maker, sustainable agriculture advocate, and well-intentioned bureaucrat. She is currently consulting for Food Genius, a start-up that is aiming to track and trend all restaurant consumption data, as well as developing her first book, tentatively called The Vegetarian’s Guide to Meat. She developed her food ethos in the fertile hills of Vermont, and after earning a BA in Environmental Studies from Wellesley College, she moved to Chicago to join the Department of Environment. She continues to work towards an understanding of how restaurant food and distribution works with the hope of achieving sustainability on a larger scale. She was most recently a butcher (and a baker) at Girl & the Goat in Chicago. |
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Michael Dulock, Concord Prime & Fish Michael is the proprietor and managing partner of Concord Prime & Fish located in Concord, Massachusets, located in the Thoreau Street fish market. He is a passionate businessman and assures his customers that quality fresh produce, meat, seafood and other products are delivered every day. In his shop, guests and patrons are aware of his keenness to customers’ satisfaction by his offerings of prime meats, grass fed beef and locally raised products. The self-confessed foodie envisions that the business will become a culinary resource, a food haven. He and his family, who are renowned in the business, are also known by their motto, “Fresh fish delivered twice daily.” |
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Melanie Eisemann, Angela Wilson, Avedano’s Holly Park Market, Charter Members Angela Wilson is Co-Owner of Avedano’s Holly Park Market, a butcher shop in the Bernal Heights neighborhood in San Francisco, and owner of Divine Chai, a wholesale tea brewing company serving the SF Bay Area. A professional cook and entrepreneur since age 20, Angela combines her natural leadership with a commitment to supplying her community with locally sourced, consciously raised and respectfully butchered animals. Melanie Eisemann has been involved in the food industry world for twenty years, her passion for good food led her into the world of humanely raised meats, locally produced goods and sustainable fishing practices. Since opening the meat shop in 2007, she has become a little obsessed about learning how to butcher, cook and speak on the subject of meat. Her current project is ”The meatwagon”- a miniature, mobile version of Avedano’s meat market, coming to an SF neighborhood near you |
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Jon Emanuel, Project Angel Heart Jon Emanuel is the Executive Chef at Project Angel Heart in Denver, Colorado; a non-profit providing free, nutritious meals to those living with life-threatening illnesses. He is also a chef instructor at the Metropolitan State College of Denver, as well as the founder of the Denver Adventurous Eaters Club. Jon’s interest in butchery started while working in challenging environments– including Executive Chef stints in remote Alaska and South Pole Station, Antarctica—where whole animal or primal fabrication was a necessary skill. Over the years Jon has acquired a deeper knowledge and appreciation of charcuterie, sustainable meat practices and whole-beast cuisine; and tries whenever possible to include these skills in his current work. Jon is also a graduate of the very first session of the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meat’s Butchery Certification Program. |
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Brad Farmerie, Public, Charter Member Though American-born, Brad Farmerie takes a distinctly global approach to his cuisine. Farmerie earned his Grande Diplome at Le Cordon Bleu in 1996. He honed his skills and techniques in several of England’s top kitchens, but most influential to his signature style of cooking was Farmerie’s work experience under the wing of Chef Peter Gordon at the Sugar Club. In 2003, Farmerie moved back to the US to help conceive PUBLIC, the first restaurant owned by the design and concept firm AvroKO. A 20-seat wine bar, called The Monday Room, was opened within PUBLIC in 2006. In 2008, Farmerie extended his culinary reach as executive chef of AvroKO Restaurant Group’s Double Crown and Madam Geneva. His cuisine has earned accolades from the New York Times, and a Michelin star in both 2009 and 2010 for PUBLIC. He was named a StarChefs.com 2005 New York Rising Star; a Food Arts Emerging Tastemaker in 2006; and was a New Zealand Food and Wine Ambassador for their Trade Commission in 2005 and 2006 |
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Ryan Farr, 4505 Meats, Charter Member 4505 Meats is a San Francisco based company supporting the local food system. Chef Ryan Farr founded 4505 Meats in January 2009. Ryan developed his artisan butchery techniques and love of all things meaty during his career as a classically trained chef heading a Michelin Star restaurant. Ryan’s experience in fine dining and butchering, as well as his over the top gluttonous dishes, are all part of the 4505 Meats vision. |
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John Fink, The Whole Beast, Charter Member Chef John Fink founded The Whole Beast in San Francisco as a way to celebrate the art of cooking over fire a whole animal that has been humanely grown and prepared in a holistic manner, paying special attention to animal husbandry.Chef John Fink is a 43 year-old San Francisco-based chef with over 20 years of experience cooking for top restaurants including Aqua, Postrio, Ondine and Silks Restaurant, L’Orangerie and Kuleto Estate Winery in Napa. John is a graduate of the Cordon Bleu in Canada. During college he supported himself by fishing commercially for scallops, tuna and swordfish in the North Atlantic and pursued commercial fishing further in Alaska, obtaining his Able Bodied Seaman license.Drawing on his fishing days, John’s food preparation starts from the very beginning – how the animal is raised. John personally visits each farmer and tours their facilities, asking how and where the animals spend their day, what they are fed, where they sleep and how they are finished, walking in each farmer’s footsteps. |
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Chris Fuller, a.k.a Meat Chris Chris has worked in food service since he was 15 years old. He holds an Associate’s Degree from Johnson and Wales University in Culinary Arts. In 2009 he became the Plant Manager at Sunnyside Meats Inc, a small, federally inspected meat processing plant. Chris has been demonstrating the art of meat cutting all over the country and is now managing the Alleghany Highlands Ag Center in VA. The plant is opening in 2012 to bring processing services to the producers of the Appalachian region. |
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Lauren Garaventa, Sea Breeze Farm & La Boucherie Lauren Garaventa is a butcher and Shop Manager for Sea Breeze Farm & La Boucherie on Vashon Island in the Puget Sound. They provide fresh meat and charcuterie for farmer’s markets around Seattle and La Boucherie’s farm-to-table restaurant, as well as the butcher shop. Lauren has been curing for the last 2 years, but started doing whole animal butchery in the spring of 2011. |
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Jesse Griffiths, Dai Due Supper Club & Butcher Shop Jesse Griffiths is the chef and owner of Dai Due Supper Club and Butcher Shop in Austin, Texas. Apart from farm dinners and a weekly Farmers’ Market booth selling sausages, prepared foods and condiments using local meats and vegetables, Dai Due offers classes on hog butchering, canning, hunting and fishing. |
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Patrick Gebrayel, Heywood’s Provision Company, is CEC and proprietor ofwhich produces and sells high-quality artisan meats and food in Marietta Georgia. Patrick is also the former executive chef at the Dunwoody Country Club of Atlanta. Patrick has served as the director of his local chapter of the American Culinary Federation and is considered a pioneering chef in the Atlanta area in the “farm to fork” movement. In addition to his expertise in quality organic and locally-sourced food, Patrick is also an expert in food safety, being one of the first chefs in his field to become HAACP certified for safety in food handling and preparation. In spare time, Patrick is also an amateur beekeeper and organic gardener. |
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Jules Lynne Guillemette, Vermont Technical College Jules developed a passion for meat at her grandmother’s kitchen table in the rural hills of Vermont. She began her training cutting up game at age 16 while enrolled in the culinary arts program at Green Mountain Vocational Center. From there, most of her experience came in her years cooking in Seattle under Chef’s Tamara Murphy and Maria Hines. She garnered much experience with whole animal butchery and charcuterie in her years as Chef de Cuisine at Murphy’s Brasa, but after traveling abroad in the French and Italian countryside, decided she needed to return to the green mountains. While raising pigs on her family’s farm, she began breaking carcasses at a small USDA inspected slaughterhouse in Braintree, VT. She has recently been hired by Vermont Technical College to develop a Meat Cutting and Safety Course for their Diversified Agriculture Program. She cuts full time at two local markets while working on her VTC curriculum and plans to open her own shop. |
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Robb Hammond, Food Dance Executive Chef Robb sources the best local pork that his area has to offer, he butchers whole hogs consistently in-house at Food Dance. For Robb, it is the process of getting to know the local terrain and how the breeds will cook, grind and cure that really excites him. All of this work has led to the development of a charcuterie program, focused on bringing back the old world flavor and technique of patience to his patrons. They are crafting terrines, sausages, pate, and cured meats. He is passionate about continuing to explore the craft of butchery and charcuterie. |
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Peter Hertzmann, Author of Knife Skills: Illustrated Peter Hertzmann is a culinary instructor that specializes in the cutting of protein and vegetables. His students range from recreational cooks to students in a vocational school setting to people currently incarcerated in the county jail. Peter honed his cooking skills as a stagiaire in Michelin-starred restaurants in France, Switzerland, and San Francisco and has completed multiple stagesat The Healthy Butcher in Toronto.He is the author of Knife Skills Illustrated: A User’s Manual, and since 1999 has written articles about French cookery in his e-zine à la carte, which also includes basic technique videos. Peter recently added a weekly blog with an amuse-bouche and mignardise. |
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Sean Hofherr, Zier’s Prime Meats Sean is a reformed banker from Chicago who found his happiness wielding a meat cleaver while apprenticing under Dave Zier at Zier’s Prime Meats in Wilmette, IL where he can be found behind the counter today. This is all in Sean’s blood as his great-grandfather Anton Hofherr was the founder of the Hofherr Meat Packing Company in Chicago at the turn-of-the-century. Sean is also quite the cook having worked in some of Chicago’s top kitchens under some of the best chefs in the city. In his spare time Sean can be found competing on the BBQ circuit with his Duke’s Best Sauces team, coaching youth hockey, or in the forest, foraging for wild edibles. Sean is a great resource for mushroom identification, pickling, and canning questions. |
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Chris Hughes, Broken Arrow Ranch Broken Arrow Ranch is the leading purveyor of high quality, free-range venison, antelope, and wild boar meat from truly wild animals. Running a small family business has allowed me to develop skills in a wide range of areas – from marketing and sales to accounting and finance to human resources and general management. Broken Arrow Ranch is an artisanal purveyor of high quality, free-range venison, antelope, and wild boar meat from truly wild animals. Founded in 1983 by Mike Hughes, the Broken Arrow Ranch harvests, processes and delivers exotic game meat to more than 1,000 high-end restaurants around the country. Its products are also available to consumers via its website. |
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Steve Hughes Steve Hughes is a veteran of the meat industry for 18 years now. Raised on a farm in Oregon, Steve became interested in butchery while he was still in grade school. When he graduated, he met his mentors, Jeff Dickson and Jim Wingfield. Trained by a journeyman butchery, he spent 8 years training and B & D Custom meats. He then moved to Arkansas and went to work for the local farmers market and ran their meat shop. Steve feels the greatest accomplishment of his career, was to take a childhood interest, and turn it into a reality. He is proud to be a Guild member and connect with a fraternity of meat professionals who are passionate about the trade. |
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Brian Jauregui, Sysco Foods My journey in the meat business started as a youth raising my own animals taking them to the fair sale or local butcher shop, in 1978 I got a job at a small slaughter house, I learned how to use a knife, we harvested about 60 animals a day, I became close with the USDA inspector and learned both pre & post mortum inspection. in. 1980 I joined the meat cutters union and after 2 years became a Journeyman butcher, I worked as a retail butcher for the next 18 years. in 1997 I moved to Nor Cal. to get back into the wholesale part of the meat business. I worked as a plant manager at a lamb processing plant then in 99 I was recruited to run the operation at Facciola meat co. 6 years later Facciola was purchased by Sysco Foods and that is were I am today. I am the meat specialist/Certified Angus Beef Specialist for Sysco Foods SF, my responsibilities include training sales reps how to sell meat, teaching meat 101 working with chefs to reduce food cost or develop new cuts or menu ideas. I work closely with purchasing and vendors to create a high end local protein product line. |
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Matt Jennings,Farmstead, Charter Member Matt is a classically trained chef, who now owns a group of gourmet, specialty foods stores called Farmstead, specializing in domestic, artisan cheeses, as well as cured meats, salumi, pates and pantry essentials. He has recently opened La Laiterie at Farmstead, which is a bistro with an emphasis on seasonal, handmade food. Matt’s many achievements include being named by Food & Wine Magazine as one of ‘The 40 Biggest Thinkers Under 40′ in the food service industry, changing the way Americans eat. |
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Adam Kaye, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Charter Member As Vice President and Kitchen Director, Blue Hill and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Adam is responsible for relationships with farmers, fishermen, and producers. The winner of Cochon555’s 2010 New York competition, Adam spends much of his day refining Blue Hill’s charcuterie program and sharing his pig and parts knowledge with cooks, guests and students. |
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Reece Lagunas, Whole Foods Reece got his start in the industry in 2007 at Whole Foods, Milwaukee. He learned some butchery basics before transferring to the Lamar store in Austin. His first indication that the trade of butchery was what he wanted to do with his life, came at a point when Reece realized that he was working with guys from every generation and walk of life. He realized that he was working with genuine, honest, talented people and immediately knew how lucky he was to be in that situation. Always careful to *listen* to what he was being taught, Reece respected the time and trade knowledge his teachers were giving him. He learned two types of meat cutting – box-beef, (supermarket beef, no challenge whatsoever) and hanging beef, utilizing whole sides, highly challenging. |
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Rob Levitt, The Butcher & Larder, Charter Member While pursuing a degree in Jazz Performance at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana, Rob worked as a dishwasher and prep cook. He soon moved on to be a line cook at Timpone’s, the “best restaurant in Urbana.” Rob then worked at Le Titi de Paris in Arlington Heights, Illinois before heading East to attend the Culinary Institute of America. During and after his time at the CIA Rob worked at the Park Avenue Café in Manhattan.Eventually he left New York City to work in Chicago. Since moving back to Chicago Rob has worked at Fiddlehead Cafe, del Toro, North Pond and 312 Chicago. Rob and his wife Allison opened their restaurant, Mado, in the Bucktown neighborhood of Chicago in April 2008. After three years of critical acclaim for their local, sustainable, whole animal approach to cooking, they decided to take the next step.The Butcher & Larder is an evolution of their years of experience working with farmers and doing what they can to bring responsibly raised local meat to their community. They are proud to operate Chicago’s first local, sustainable, whole animal butcher shop. |
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Josh Lewin, Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro Josh grew up in Boston and Western Massachusetts. The roots of his love of food and passion for flavor were born very early. Josh started as Sous Chef at Beacon Hill Hotel & Bistro in July of 2010. Josh has a passion for bistro cuisine – both classic and modern – and a tireless will to learn, to improve and ultimately to teach. His goal is to create something special for his customers, to grow strong relationships with his growers and the folks who raise their meat. |
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Jamey Lionette, Food Activist, Charter Member Jamey was the owner/operator of Lionette’s Market in Boston. He is currenlty involved in several projects bringing local meat & produce into immigrant/working class neighborhoods, like his collaboration with City Growers, an urban farm that converts unused land in Boston into farmland, then hires area residents to work the land. Jamey has written several articles on local and sustainable food, including a chapter in Manifestos on the Future of Food and Seed, and regularly speaks on panels and at universities. |
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Ben Lobenstein, Fire it Up Events My first job was at a butcher shop, since then I’ve always been fascinated by MEAT. It wasn’t until 2004 that I found my inner foodie, at a barbeque competition. Since then I have become very involved in the barbecue & culinary communities, from a competitive cook, to an educator. I am currently on the Board of Directors of the California BBQ Association. I live the passion for protein. |
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Matthew Looney, Green Roots Farm My wife and I purchased our farm back in 2007. We had come from a background of chemistry, architecture, and pharmacy but left that crap behind, and I do mean crap, and started a farm. We raise chickens, seasonal turkeys, Berkshire pigs, and goats. We got so discouraged by the lack of sustainable butchering available in this area of Texas that we decided to learn all we could and butcher our own animals. At some point in the future I would like to have our own on farm abattoir. I think controlling the entire process from birth to death is the best way to ensure perfection, or at least as close to perfection as nature will allow. |
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Marsha McBride, Cafe Rouge In 1982, Marsha McBride enrolled in the California Culinary Academy to become a pastry chef. She found a new interest with meat, which led her to open a café and meat market in Berkley in 1996 called, Café Rouge. Using her skills as head of charcuterie of nine years with Zuni Café, she opened up a butcher shop within the restaurant. Many of her recipes are found in Gourmet and Bon Appetit Magazine. Food and Wine magazine has named her one of the Top 10 New Chefs. |
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Travis McConnell, Revival Bar and Kitchen Travis McConnel is a graduate of the New England Culinary Institute. He is sous chef at Revival Bar and Kitchen. Revival Bar & Kitchen is a farm-to-table, organic restaurant in downtown Berkeley, Ca. They source their produce within 100 miles and butcher in-house goat, pork and lamb. And make everything they possibly can in-house as well, using ingredients as the season dictates and holding to personal high standards. |
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Bob McGee, The Whole Ox Deli is the chef/owner of The Whole Ox Deli in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Ox will open in March 2012. Upon moving to Honolulu in ’09, he found a disconnect between ranchers, processors, and the consumer. He found very little local, responsibly raised meat in stores anywhere.The Whole Ox Deli will provide fresh cuts as well as cold cuts produced only from local, sustainably raised animals. Having spent 10 years working in Oregon, as a chef for Deschutes Brewery, The Slow Bar and New Seasons Market, Bob credits the few years cooking for Greg Higgins as the most educational and influential time in his career. |
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Rob McCue, Whole Foods Left a successful 10 year career doing corporate-level supply chain management (7 years based in China) to pursue his dream of having a truly vertically integrated meat centered business; livestock farm, full service USDA inspected slaughtering, and a retail butcher shop with a small restaurant. He is currently employed with Whole Foods Market learning to butcher. |
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Morgan Maki, Sam Mogannam, Bi-Rite Market Morgan Maki has what fans consider epic charcuterie skills, a fierce work ethic and an understanding of animal anatomy that he shares with his students during his butchery classes. He is the in-house butcher for Bi-Rite Market. Before Bi-Rite, Morgan’s culinary travels led him to attend the New England Culinary School in Burlington, Vermont. He also worked as a chef in North Carolina, Boston and Montana. Morgan then moved to San Francisco to manage the nationally acclaimed restaurant Quince, where he honed his butchery and charcuterie skills. He took the butcher’s job at Bi-Rite about 3 and a half years ago and later helped launch 18 Reasons, a community center that brings people together to deepen their relationship to food and each other. Sam Mogannam’s family has owned the Bi-Rite market since 1964, with brothers Ned and Jack operating it for the first 26 years. Sam and and his brother took over the store from their father and uncle in 1997. Sam brought a restaurant perspective to the market, focusing on genuine service above all else. As a chef, Sam insisted on stocking cooking ingredients of the highest quality, taste, and freshness with equally important purpose. He brought three Core Values to the Market with him from his days of running his SF restaurant,Rendezvous du Monde. LOVE, PASSION and INTEGRITY is their creed and Bi-Rite continues to inspire its patrons and create ambitious shopping experiences as well as community opportunities for building a healthy food system. |
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Todd Mussman, Local Three Bar and Kitchen Todd Mussman is a chef as well as the co-owner of Local Three Kitchen & Bar, located in Atlanta GA. Mussman mans the charcuterie program and heads up special projects and commissary operations at Local Three Kitchen & Bar. The restaurant has just celebrated being open for one year, they opened its doors for the first time in December 2010. The restaurants motto is “You can’t argue with delicious.” |
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Adam Mussleman, Laurelhurst Market Adam developed a love for meat at a young age; his grandmothers home cooking always included bacon, bacon fat or the occasional smoked ham hock for good meat-measure. Adam got his start in the culinary scene at the dish tank of a diner in his hometown- Dayton, OH, 11 years ago, Adam has worked his way through the ranks of the back of house, finally ending up as the Assistant Manager of the Laurelhurst Market Butcher Shop in Portland, OR. Since coming to LHM Adam has been honing his skills in the art of charcuterie, whole animal butchery and meat fabrication under the guidance of lead butcher Spencer Adams. |
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Justin Michael, Heartland Choice Meats Justin learned the basic knife skills in 2006 at a smaller commercial pork plant located in Twin Falls, Idaho. Justin relocated to Kansas where he started working at a small custom slaughter and processing plant butchering a variety of meats. After three years of cutting in Kansas he finds himself heading up all slaughter, cutting and curing at Heartland Choice Meats. If you asked him what he loves most about butchery he would give you alot of “most”. Wether it’s the diversity in the meat market, the traditional cutting methods, the constant learning, or the taste testing. |
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Julio Mis, Sociale Julio began working at Sociale in 2001 and helped open Avedano’s in 2006. He enjoys working with meat and learning how to break down whole animals. His role as Sous chef at Sociale allows him to use whole animals in a restaurant setting. And his work as a butcher at Avedano’s on the weekends gives him a retail perspective. He wants to build skills to run his own butcher shop in the future. |
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Erika Nakamura, Amelia Posada, Lindy & Grundy Erika was born in Tokyo, Japan, where she spent her childhood following her mom around the kitchen. She attended the French Culinary Institute in New York and worked the line at many top fine dining restaurants in NY, before she decided to follow her dream of opening a whole animal butcher shop.Amelia was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Amelia was a vegetarian for 14 years, and is now a conscious carnivore and butcher. She says bacon was responsible for wooing her to the meatier side of life. Amelia loves building the meat cases. Her background is in floral and event design, so she has an extra attention to detail! |
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Joe Parajecki, Standard Market is the Head Butcher at Standard Market in Westmont Illinois, (a unique Market with a Restaurant right in the middle of it). Joe graduated from the Milwaukee Area Technical College with a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Cookery and worked as a chef for many years, in everything from fine dining to fast food. Though the restaurant business was fulfilling, he needed a change, and wanted to spend time more time with his family. Finding a job as a meat cutter was a turning point and Joe spent many years working for large Grocery Chains before coming to work for Standard Market. |
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Stephen Pocock, Boccalone & Damn Fine Bacon, Charter Member Stephen has been smoking and curing meat for at least 10 years. What started as a hobby while he worked in the TV industry has become his profession. Since 2007 he has been at Boccalone, where he is the Salumiere. He recently launched Damn Fine Bacon, bringing his smoked pork bellies to his Bay Area fans. |
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Rachael Pepe, a.k.a Pepe Pepe came to butchery through her interest in how relationships are formed around food. She began her career with an apprenticeship, which led to a position as Butcher at Marlow & Daughters, a whole-animal butcher shop in Brooklyn, New York. As a neighborhood butcher, she serves as a connective link between families and the local farmers who provide the animals sold at the shop. That connection extends to the animals themselves, who are grass-fed and pastured, a quality that is reflected in the flavor and appearance of the meat. As an advocate of nose-to-tail eating, she is able to educate people about rare cuts of meat and how to use time honored, but often forgotten, cooking methods to render a sumptuous meal out of overlooked parts of the animal. |
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Katy Quinn, Double Check Ranch has worked to become a master of her craft. Though she primarily works with beef, she specializes in the slaughter and carcass fabrication of all species. She also teaches an assortment of butchery classes. |
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Berlin Reed, Digital Meat & Media, Charter Member Berlin Reed is the butcher, chef and writer behind the The Ethical Butcher. For the past two years his practice has been driven by personal relationships with small local farmers, a deep love of food, respect for the animals we eat and the environment on which we depend. As the creator of The Butcher’s Guild Bulletin and a writer, Berlin shares news and information about the meat industry from the perspective of the butchers, chefs and farmers who are fighting to improve it. He is based in Portland, OR but speaks about meat sustainability at universities and conferences all over the country. |
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Terry Regasa, Greene Grape Provisions Terry traded the shutter for the scimitar, after ten years of fashion photography he dedicated himself to the craft and art of butchery. After training at Fleisher’s in upstate New York, and some time moving up the food chain, he found himself head butcher at Greene Grape Provisions in Fort Greene, where he continues to educate and eviscerate. |
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Ron Savenor, Savenor’s Market Ron Savenor grew up immersed in his family’s business. From cleaning to stocking, cashiering to butchering, he has experienced every role that, together, has maintained Savenor’s reputation as “The Best on the Block” for decades. Ron took over as Savenor’s owner and master butcher. Under his leadership, Savenor’s has experienced substantial growth, including the opening of a second retail location, expanded delivery and an increased wholesale operation. He also spearheaded bringing in local and sustainable meats that are now a staple in the retail and wholesale operations. |
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Aaron and Monica Rocchino,The Local Butcher Shop, Monica and Aaron own The Local Butcher Shop in Berkely, where sustainability and responsible butchery are top priorities. The two met when they worked together at the Oliveto Restaurant in 2002. Since then, Aaron spent over five years as a chef at the restaurant Chez Panisse. Their extensive experience in restaurants introduced them to a variety of quality meats, but lead them to lament the absence of such quality in the market for home customers. And so The Local Butcher Shop was born. There, buyers can see all parts of the butchery process, from the whole animal, to the cuts of meat that are sold at the front counter. |
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Berry Salinas, Meat Revolution Berry Salinas started Meat Revolution as a movement and an experiment. Could I raise animals without commercial feeds, with care and respect and slaughter in the most humane way possible? She found she could. Others wanted in and a business was born. Five years in and from birth to bacon she does it all. Community driven meat production-¡Viva la Revolución! |
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John Stewart, Bovolo, Black Pig Meat Co. Relocating to Seattle in 1994, John worked at Etta’s Seafood and Palace Kitchen, where he met his future wife and Queen of Porc Duskie Estes. While sous-cheffingat the well-known Cafe Lago he fell deeply in love with all things Italian. John could easily resonate with the Italian generosity of spirit, the connection between food and family, and the inclination not to waste a morsel [snout to tail philosophy]. John is a 1990 graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, an avid gardener, and after the move to Sonoma, a blossoming chicken farmer. He is also a devoted salumist having studied with chef Mario Batali and at the University of Iowa Meat Lab. He is responsible for Black Pig Meats, bacon and salumi made form antibiotic and hormone free pork, boar and lamb.
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Jason Story, Three Little Pigs Charcuterie Is a twenty-eight year old culinary entrepreneur, originally from Waterford, Michigan. He attended the highly acclaimed Culinary Institute of America, graduating in 2008. Mr. Story spent time studying under award winning chef and charcuterie expert Brian Polcyn. He currently resides in Washington DC and recently opened Three Little Pigs Charcuterie and Salumi with his fiancé of 1 ½ years, Carolina Gomez. |
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Adam Tiberio, Tiberio Custom Meats, Charter Member From supermarkets to slaughterhouses to packing companies to butcher shops and restaurants, Adam Tiberio has been a meat cutter at every level of the industry. He is primarily interested in new and novel methods of carcass breaking, muscle profiling, and cuts from other cultures. Adam was formerly the Head Meat Cutter at Dickson’s Farmstand Meats in New York City. He is now working on his own venture, Tiberio Custom Meats. |
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Denny Trantham, Grove Park Inn Chef Denny Trantham was raised in Haywood County, North Carolina where he has spent most of his life. Coming from the Southern Appalachian cluture, Denny has been exposed to much of that the culture and traditions of the South has to offer. Graduating from Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, South Carolina with a degree in Culinary Arts, Denny began work at the resort in 1991. He completed his apprenticeship at the National Press Club in Washington DC. Denny’s philosophy and passion reflects much of the Southern Culinary Heritage and he has added butchery and local sourcing to the Grove Park Inn kitchens. |
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Kari Underly, Range Inc., Charter Member Kari Underly, principal of Range, Inc., is nationally recognized and respected as a leading fresh meat educator and merchandising expert. Kari travels the country teaching industry leaders innovative cutting techniques designed to add value to the carcass and increase profitability. She was instrumental in developing and implementing the Flat Iron steak and the Denver cut. Kari holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration and is a Journeyman meat cutter. She is the author of The Art of Beef Cutting: A Meat Professional’s Guide to Butchering and Merchandising. |
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David Varley, Mina Group, Charter Member David Varley developed a passion for the culinary arts at a young age while watching his mother tend the family’s organic garden which served his family and the local restaurants of Sussex, NJ. During his formative years, Varley was educated in the true meaning of eating locally and seasonally, and this approach is instrumental to crafting menus with Michael Mina for all Mina Group’s Restaurants across the country. Varley was most recently the Executive Chef of Mina’s Bourbon Steak in Washington D.C. where he earned many accolades for the restaurant, and personally including Forbes Best New Restaurant in the Country 2010, DC luxury Magazine Restaurant of the Year 2009, Food and Wine Cochon 555 Regional Competition First Place, National Competition First Place 2010. |
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Cole Ward, The Gourmet Butcher Master butcher Cole Ward’s career began at age 14, when he stuffed sausages for 20 cents an hour. Soon wanderlust took him to LaFrieda Prime Meats in LA, where his clients included Billy Crystal, Bernadette Peters, Edith Head and Raymond Burr. After five years, Cole returned to Vermont – he’s a country boy – where his devoted customers seek out his superb meats. Cole is an advocate for local farmers: “I am convinced that sustainably raised animals are the only way to go.” Passionate about reviving the butcher’s craft, he recently released The Gourmet Butcher – a first-ever DVD set that makes his culinary butchery course for chefs, farmers and foodies available to everyone. |
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Sarah Wong, Seattle Central Community College Sarah Wong began practicing seam-style butchery after working with Mangalitsa butcher Cristoph Wiesner. She then traveled to Gascony to work with the Chapolards in their farm-to-market shop while exploring butchers and charcutieres of France. She brought back this experience to share as a chef instructor at Seattle Culinary Academy,a program committed to a local and sustainable mission. She currently works as a butcher-at-large, doing demonstrations and facilitating connections between students, farmers, fellow butchers and chefs, striving for a vital connection with the farm-to-table movement. |
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Tom Wriggins, Wriggins Hilltop Farm Tom is a Farmer/Chef/ Owner of Wriggins Hilltop Farm in Nobleboro Maine. He and his wife operate a ‘CSA Style’ operation, providing Grass Fed Hereford Beef and All Natural Pork for local residents and select chefs in Maine. In addition to working with a local abattoir to process his animals, Tom produces in house charcuterie for his CSA customers. Living by the farm’s motto of “Know Where Your Food Comes From’ and honoring the whole animal, Tom and his wife Alana are active in the community and in food related causes; he is a board member of the Real Food Institute of Midcoast Maine, and volunteers with other organizations such as Share Our Strength and the Damariscotta Mills Fish Ladder Restoration Project. |
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Oscar Yedra, Canyon Market Oscar is known in San Francisco as the “beefbreaker.” Yedra got his start as a butcher at his fathers butcher shop in his hometown Mexico. Now he spends his time cutting meat at B.N Ranch, as well as the meat counter at Canyon Market, they are both located in San Francisco. According to ‘San Francisco Weekly,’ “many of his colleagues say Yedra’s skills are the best they’ve seen.” Yedra proves this by winning the championship in the beef butchery contest at Oakland’s Eat Real Fest three times in a row. |
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Robert Young, The Black Belt Butcher Robert Young’s career as a butcher began at the age of 9 after he and his family emigrated from Hong Kong to a small town in central California. He began working behind the meat counter in his family’s neighborhood grocery store. Robert learned how to break down whole carcass, cut, grind, make sausage and ultimately learned to make use of each animal head to tail. His meat industry career has spanned over 50 years and includes significant experience in both the wholesale and retail areas of the business. Robert is currently an adjunct instructor at Clark College teaching meat cutting in the culinary program; he is an instructor for the Portland Meat Collective and conducts classes at local Whole Foods Markets. Robert is also the full-time butcher at the Whole Foods Market in Vancouver WA. |
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NC Choices The Butcher’s Guild is proud to have partnered with NC Choices on the development of workshops to foster the local meat system in their community. We look forward to many more opportunities to teach and learn from the NC Choices’ network of farmers, butchers, advocates, farmer’s markets, chefs and consumers.
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You should make a google map so that people can see where all of these people work. I know it’s primarily bay area focused, but for people who are interested in buying these butchers’ wares, it’d be easier if they could see who is nearby.