Tag: butcher

News

Beltex Meats Closes This December: A Loss for Salt Lake City

Really, really saddened to hear this news. We have so few traditional butcher shops left in Salt Lake. And arguably the best one just announced that after ten years, it’s time to hang up the knives and close up shop, with their last day being December 23rd.

The best way to summarize Beltex Meats’ approach was that they care. They care about where they source their products. They care how those animals are treated. They care about their customers. And they care about the community.

To be clear, this level of care costs money. When you walk into Beltex you need to be prepared to acknowledge that responsibly sourced meats cost more, especially at Beltex’s relatively small scale. I suspect that, like so many other businesses in SLC (and across the country for that matter) they determined the maintaining prices at a reasonable level and still keep the lights on perhaps was no longer possible. But this is speculation on my part.

When I would stop by and buy a cut of beef (my favorite is, and always will be, the flatiron steak) they would take the time to educate me on how to cook it. Sometimes, it’s not complicated, with Phillip telling me one time: “get your grill as hot as it will go, three minutes each side, and you’re done.” Simple. But with good ingredients, most the time simple is the best.

And I would be remiss to not mention their sandwiches, which I regard as some of the best sandwiches I’ve ever eaten. The porchetta was gluttony-on-a-bun, and man was it worth it. And their Saturday special, the cuban, was the best cuban sandwich I have ever eaten. They have ruined me for life for cuban sandwiches. I went to Miami and tried various renditions and remember thinking “none of these holds a candle to what Beltex does in Salt Lake.”

Again, I’m speculating here again, but I always got the impression that Beltex’s owner Philip Grubisa didn’t particularly love the attention that the sandwiches got over their meat selection. The sandwiches were one of those things designed to get people in the door, yet, the sandwiches developed a fame of their own, and I have a hunch that perhaps the distraction they created away from their main mission of providing the best meats in the valley wasn’t always what he had envisioned.

Nevertheless, yet another departure of a storied food business is making the headlines and leaving a deficit in the SLC food scene that will be difficult to replicate. Starting a standalone butcher shop in this day and age was brave enough, and I’m not sure we’ll see anyone else willing to step up and do it again, and that makes me sad for what SLC will be missing out on going forward.

Best wishes to the entire Beltex crew, who were always top-notch. Keeping my greedy fingers crossed that this isn’t the last time Philip Grubisa and his crew make a dent in the SLC food scene.

photo essay

Beltex Meats

Beltex Meats in Salt Lake City is a rarity along the Wasatch Front. In a world where the majority of consumers get their meats from grocery stores who focus more on their profit and loss statements than they do on the provenance of their products they sell, Beltex meats stands alone as a diamond in the rough.

Beltex is a whole animal butchery, which means they utilize every part of the animal in order to promote responsible consumption and minimize waste. The owners of Beltex saw that as residents in the area become more interested in purchasing humanely-raised, sustainable products, existing suppliers weren’t necessarily able to accommodate the demand. So Beltex stepped in to fill the gap, first at farmers’ markets, and now at their own shop. What does humanely raised mean? According to Beltex it means that their animals are pasture raised, with lots of room. Their products are never treated with antibiotics or hormones. They know each of their suppliers personally.

Beltex was founded by a chef, Philip Grubisa, which makes sense when you see that their cases not only feature meat, but also meat pies, charcuterie platters, sandwiches (Saturdays only), sauces, ready-to-cook meals, and other items not typically found in a butcher shop. Philip cut his butchery teeth while working at Spruce in the Waldorf Astoria in Park City, then moving on to open Talisker on Main with Briar Handly. Prior to opening Beltex, Philip trained at the Rocky Mountain Institute of Meat in Denver to certify in professional butchery.

I stopped by on a Saturday morning while the crew was preparing one of their surprising successes: sandwiches. Beltex offered a cuban sandwich one day, and it was so popular, they now offer a rotation of sandwiches on Saturday only. Despite their sandwich success, they limit their production to 50 sandwiches, and once they sell out, they’re out. “We’re not a sandwich shop. We’re a butcher shop that happens to sell a sandwich,” Grubisa says.

Philip has taken care to create a unique space to sell Beltex products. Their shop is located in a renovated house just across the street from Liberty Park on 9th South. Prior to the renovation, this house was a dilapidated mess, and Grubisa hired Brach Design Architecture to update the space to what you see now.

Beltex is open Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm.

511 East, 900 South, Salt Lake City. (801) 532-2641. beltexmeats.com

Click on the photos below to open the gallery.

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Caputo’s Butcher Shop

If I had to pick just one local shop that has done more to elevate Salt Lake City’s tastes regarding food and the culture that surrounds it, I’d have to pick Caputo’s. I remember watching Tony do his cooking spot on TV when I was younger, and then be in awe when I saw him energetically working behind the deli counter between shooting his TV spots in the back of their old shop right on the corner of 3rd W and Broadway. I remember walking through their shop, admiring the gorgeous, multi-colored bottles of imported water, olive oil, and vinegar. They cared (and still do) about their food and ingredients, and they remain one of my favorite haunts in Salt Lake City.

Caputo’s has evolved over the years. What was once a tiny deli and sandwich shop is now a shop that offers an olive oil and vinegar tasting bar, a gorgeous and huge selection of fine chocolates from around the world, a wonderful deli meat counter, a wide selection of some of the world’s best cheeses, salumi, pasta, sauces, jams, beverages, cheese cave, and educational classes to help us expand our palates and knowledge.

And now they’ve taken the next step in their evolution by opening Caputo’s Butcher Shop. The shop will only sell Heritage meats–animals that have been humanely raised and pasture-fed by ranchers that understand that there’s more to it than just making money. The shop will sell Christiansen Family Farms pork, Snowy Mountain lamb, and Pleasant Creek Ranch beef. Goat and chicken will be coming soon.

Frody Volgger, formerly of Vienna Bistro, is the in-house butcher. Frody closed down his vaunted Vienna Bistro a few years ago when he was battling cancer and he realized he needed to focus on his treatment. Now, in his recovery period, he found himself curing meats and giving them away to friends and family. He said that during the last holiday season he cured over 1,000 pounds of meat for friends and family. So it was a rather fortuitous meeting between Matt and Frody that ended up with them deciding to open a butcher shop at Caputo’s.

Frody is more than happy to do special cuts or take special orders for meat. So if you’re in the need of a special cut of meat, chances are he’ll be able to do it for you. And he’ll happily share recipe ideas as well.

In addition to butchering, Frody is also preparing a special line of their preservative-free, house-cured meats. Everything from ham, chorizo, and other sausages will be featured in the butcher case. We tried a wide variety of their offerings and they are indeed tasty.

The next time you’re in Caputo’s swing around the corner, walk past the balsamic vinegars and olive oil, and check out their butcher case. Say hi to Frody. Ask him to tell you about the meat. He’ll be glad you did.

You can find more photos on Flickr

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