Rumour Alert!
Posted by Denise Boyle on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011Tags for this Article: butcher, commercial dr, meat, neighbourhood, organic, ranch, shopping, sustainable, vancouver
Commercial Drive is one of the best food shopping neighbourhoods in Vancouver – I know people who come here regularly from other parts of town to take advantage of the prices and the great variety. There are numerous places to find fresh fruit and veg, both organic and conventional, cheese counters, bakeries, family delis, shops for hard to find international ingredients, free range chicken and, most recently, sustainable seafood. As great as this list is, there is one thing missing: a butcher.
Happily, that is about to change. Commercial Drive is finally getting a butcher. And not just any butcher, but one that sells meat from a certified organic, bio dynamic, family run ranch. The location is the same as the short- lived Controversial Kitchen at 1420 Commercial Dr., a restaurant which also sold the Pasture to Plate meat that will be the focus of the new store.
The restaurant / meat shop combo never really made sense to me, but a butcher shop could do really well in this location. With little competition in the area and a great new fishmonger next door, they could have a very successful business on their hands. The opening date is still a mystery as my sleuthing skills (ie: phone calls and emails) have not yet been returned, but I will update this post if I hear anything.
Ooooo, can’t wait. Falconetti’s was supposed to open a butcher shop next door in the old halal shop next door. Over a year later, still no sign of it.
Update…The shop is scheduled to open some time in May. At first, they will have mostly frozen product as well as their line of certified organic deli meats and some fresh meat. They are aiming to have a full array of fresh meat by the time summer rolls around.
Hooray! About time! I too was waiting for the butcher next to Falconetti’s, but it never materialized. Now we can have surf and turf all in one block.
Any updates on this shop? It’s now October, 2011, and the place is still not open. I’m starting to get very hungry.
I know! I’ve been meaning to write a quick update, just haven’t got around to it yet…I spoke to Felix Schellenberg who is the man behind the shop and he is now hoping for an early October opening. They ran into some problems with the City regarding complaints about the noise of the condensers on the roof. Everything is now back on track and they should be opening very soon!
This place is A-W-E-S-O-M-E. For decades now, my conscience has been heavy so i’ve been making the move toward “gently raised” food animals. Then it dawned on me one day that it must be even worse to be treated like a house pet, then boxed up in a cattle car and sent to a slaughterhouse. By contrast, the Schellenbergs demonstrate empathy all the way to the end. (Read about what happens on slaughter day on their website.) For once, I can feel ok (maybe not “good” but “ok”) about eating meat.