Adam & Eats: Butcher Boys Meat Market and Deli

Editor’s note: Adam Brandt is a graduate from the Cobra Kai School of Culinary Callousness, where he received their highest award, the Red Apron of Merciless Eating. Aside from eating and talking about eating, he makes pots, paintings, prints, books, photographs, and generally, a big mess. He has been the studio assistant at Mudpuppy Pottery for 10 years and is attending a local university in a desperate attempt to earn a biology degree.

This week, I’m on the run. In honor of this, I figured that we should talk about a place that caters to this sort of situation. This week’s joint is a place that I’ve been hearing about for a while, so the stars have aligned and this is what you get.

Located on the corner of 13th and Main Streets in Van Buren is Butcher Boys Meat Market and Deli. I guess we can call it a deli since they serve fresh made sandwiches and whatnot, but don’t go thinking the you can get a pastrami on rye or anything. But, I’m getting ahead of myself.

Butcher Boys looks like many other butcher shops. They have a big glass fronted display case full of tasty hunks of flesh that are so inviting that you almost forget that you are on your lunch break and are in a hurry. Make a note to come back after work and get tasty bits and head over to the other two display cases. Here you’ll find a hot case and a cold case. You step up, place your order, and it is prepared or assembled for you on the spot. While they are building your meal, feel free to gaze around at the wonderful assortment of spices, herbs, sauces, and random food items that Butcher Boys sells to compliment their meat selection.

Order up! Pay the man (or lady), grab the bag, and off you go.

Let’s find out what’s in the bag, shall we? Probably the best thing they offer in the hot case is the aptly named hot link. This meat in tube form will light you up and it tastes fantastic. I recommend getting it on a bun (they’ll ask if you want a bun) with mustard and relish. The flavor combination of the tangy, sour, and spicy is breathtaking. Literally, it will grab you by the back of the throat and take your breath away. So good.

The next step down from the hot link has got to be the smoked chicken. I prefer the leg quarter, but the breast is spectacular as well. This is possibly some of the best chicken in the area. Perfectly tender, smoky, and rich, this bird is the word, and the word is awesome.

As far as side dishes go, the baked potato salad is the one to get. Perfectly cooked, well seasoned, and surprisingly complex flavor-wise, these spuds will leave you craving more. The bbq beans are all right, but for your money you might be better off skipping up the road a bit and getting some of Lawrence’s bbq beans in a styrofoam cup.

The bbq beef brisket sandwich is good, but lacking something. Well, something other than their savory and sweet barbeque sauce. This is rare moment for me, but I think their mild bbq sauce is better than the hot.

My only gripe about Butcher Boys is that their bread selection stinks. Your choices are white bread or wheat bread (which is actually just unbleached white bread). I understand that most people, especially in this area, don’t give much of a hoot about bread. I get that. I understand that keeping bread in stock that no one eats is wasteful, but still. When a man gets it in his head that he’s going to have pastrami on rye and then gets offered white bread, he grumbles about it. Here is my suggestion to you bread lovers out there, if you go by Butcher Boys to get a sandwich, bring your own bread (BYOB perhaps?).

Well, that’s it for this week. Be sure to visit and have a hot link and some baked potato salad at Butcher Boys. They are open until 6 p.m., so if you can’t make it for lunch, dinner is an option.

Until next week, good eating to you and yours.

Feedback
When he’s not beating his eggs, Adam makes time to respond to e-mails that get past his hard-ass spam filter. You can try to reach him at [email protected]

Adam also has this thing called Sandwich Control.