If you didn’t know the backstory (or how to read French) when entering Bavette La Boucherie (330 E. Menomonee St.) for the first time, it would be easy to assume you arrived at a modern French café—a light-filled storefront fitting nicely within the diverse culinary landscape of the Historic Third Ward. It has all the classic markings of a café: menu offerings changing daily, counter service, prepared foods case, etc. It doesn’t take long, however, to see that Bavette is so much more. (A quick French-to-English translation came in handy as well.)
Bright, airy and welcoming, Bavette La Boucherie is many things. But above all, it is a butcher shop offering responsibly raised beef, pork and lamb from Wisconsin farms. They specialize in whole-animal butchery, custom-cutting meat in-house—an effort that produces greater sustainability and less waste, not to mention ample variety of cuts available to the customer.
Bavette is also a deli-café, whose inspired menu features sandwiches, salads, charcuterie and cheeses, plus cocktails, wine and beer. The establishment offers table dining as well as counter seating and you can enjoy a sandwich like the veal breast with roasted squash, Montamore cheese and lemon-caper aioli ($12) with a roasted cauliflower and grape salad with pickled pepper vinaigrette, almonds and parmesan ($11.25), and a glass of Rickshaw 2012 Pinot Noir ($10) all while getting a rare, close-up look at artisanal butchery at its finest.
As if that wasn’t enough, Bavette offers a small but carefully selected retail section of local gourmet items and imported specialties—including vinegars, honey, pickles, mustards, wines and craft beers.
This is not your grandfather's butcher shop.
Bavette is owned by chef Karen Bell, a Milwaukee native and graduate of Milwaukee Area Technical College’s Culinary Program. An uncommon line of work not just for females, the neighborhood butcher shop today is considered a dying profession—it is no longer a fundamental component of a neighborhood’s marketplace as it once was years ago. Bavette is looking to resurrect the craft and the way it impacts the community by providing the neighborhood with a place to gather for quality food from trusted sources.
One example of this is the weekly hosting of Offal Happy Hour. Thursdays from 4-6 p.m. customers can sample snacks made from organ meats and animal entrails. Think sweetbreads, pâté, liver, tongue, bone marrow, etc., along with reduced prices on beer and wine. Another offering comes through the periodic butchering demonstrations where an intimate group of paid participants can watch Bavette’s professionals break down half a hog step by step, while participating in discussions on each cut and tips on how to prepare it.
Bavette’s intention for transparency—and desire to make us aware of where our food comes from—is a refreshing departure from the current landscape from which many of us purchase meat. Although I suppose portioned meat sitting in foam trays and sealed under plastic shrink-wrap is an example of transparency as well.
Back to that translation: In culinary terms, flank or flap steak can be called “bavette,” referring to a long and flat beef steak cut from a cow’s abdominal muscles.
