So dropped by this afternoon to check them out. It’s really more a “Restaurant with an attached butcher” concept. The area allotted for retail only occupies ~1/3 of the combined space. Explains the rather unusual location for a butcher – better suited for a restaurant. Btw, it’s located a block east of Luv2Eat.
The display refrigerator is quite small although they have a large curing / aging room. All-in-all not very impressive when you’re there in person. (Eater’s photographer must have used some crazy wide angle lens to capture that shot of the counter.) They definitely seem to be sourcing some interesting meats as listed on the blackboard- Duroc pork caught my eye. Very competitive price for the aged rib-eye.
The Blackmore wagyu offerings were disappointing; the only cut with a decent degree of marbling was the bone in rib-eye. They were cut fairly large, likely 2-2.5lbs worth for $99/lb. Marbling was far cry from my original pic above. I recently purchased prime rib-eye steaks from Pat La Frieda and the marbling comes close to this wagyu at 40% of the cost. Did not see any cured meats besides pate and terrines. Picked up some duck terrine (not enough fat) and pate, tasted ok, nothing to blow your socks off.
I’ll give them the benefit of doubt and probably return in a month and perhaps check out the restaurant when its open. By my account they certainly missed the mark by a long-shot if they were trying to deliver this (excerpt from Eater)
"…The Stones (Curtis and brother Luke) love meat so much they decided to open the best butcher shop in Los Angeles…And the meats coming out of the butcher will largely drive the culinary conversation for the restaurant sitting behind the shop. Curtis Stone first fell in love with European-style butcher shops while working with Marco Pierre White in London. The aim was to create a similar, everyday-style meat counter with chops, game, and locally-sourced product…”





