Matt Bolus
Three different Best of Nashville winners made big transitions in November. Here’s a look at what they are doing.
Porter Road Butcher has been a revelation since it opened almost six years ago, bringing high-quality meat to East Nashville in the form of a whole-animal butcher shop. The operation, run by Chris Carter and James Peisker, has consistently shown up in the Scene’s Best of Nashville issue, receiving both readers’ and writers’ picks for one reason — they sell the best meat in the city.
Carter and Peisker made two key expansions over the past few years. First, they opened a place on Charlotte Avenue. Second, they bought a processing facility up on the Kentucky line so they could control the slaughter and processing of their animals. Ultimately, they ended up closing the West Side shop to concentrate on their wholesale business, but they still got calls from their old customers: Where can I get good meat and not have to schlep to Gallatin Road?
The answer to that question soft-launched two weeks ago at PorterRoad.com, an online meat-delivery service that ships directly to your doorstep. The Scene caught up with Peisker to ask him about it.
So it looks like people on the West Side finally have an easy way to get your meat again? Yes, whether you are on the West Side of Nashville, the Upper West Side of Manhattan or on the West Coast, it’s now easier than ever to get the product that many in Nashville have come to love. Of course, we do still miss many of the friendly faces from the West Side shop.
How much planning and effort went into launching an online operation? We have been working on this project for about a year. After last holiday season, we had a surplus of incredible butcher cuts like flaps, skirts, flat-irons, some of our favorites. Meanwhile, we had friends and Porter Road fans from all over the country home for the holidays, stocking up on Porter Road meat. In one particular conversation, Chris was chatting with a longtime friend, Ryan Darnell, who had moved to New York to run an early-stage venture capital fund, which specializes in online businesses, and the wheels started turning. A year later, we are happy to announce PorterRoad.com is live, and we are able to bring meat the way meat should be to anyone who wants it.
Have you had to line up more suppliers? How do you scale the operation? We are very lucky to work with farmers that are able to grow with us. Joey Rittenberry farms over 2,000 acres in Burna, Ky., and has been ramping up over the last year in anticipation of the launch. As the online business grows, we have plans that will allow us to maintain the quality, while providing our farm partners with the opportunity to send less and less of their animals into the commodity food system. It’s a better system for farmers, for the environment and for your taste buds.
How is the meat shipped? Are there any worries about freshness? We can deliver anywhere in the country in a day or two. To make sure everything stays fresh, we invested in a wonderful insulation called Green Cell Foam. It’s a cornstarch-based insulation that is completely recyclable, you can even wash it down the sink. We believe in freshness, that’s why we don’t ship frozen. Many other companies ship frozen meat, which degrades the quality of the meat, or use Styrofoam containers, which aren’t necessarily environmentally friendly.
Is it important to have your own processing facility? It’s critical to have your own processing facility; it’s the backbone of Porter Road. All the hard work our farmers put into properly raising the animal can go out the window if the animal is mistreated in those final moments. We have also personally trained every butcher in that facility, so we are able to meet the same high standards our customers have when they come to the shop. Owning our processing facility ensures quality products are delivered each and every time.
The 404 Kitchen closed its doors at 404 12th Ave. S. and moved across the street two weeks ago to the Gulch space previously occupied by Watermark. We at the Scene named Matt Bolus Nashville’s Best Chef this year (in a tie with Philip Krajeck of Rolf & Daughters), and now that we’ve had a chance to get inside the new space, there are three particularly exciting things about the move.
First, it gives Bolus a showcase restaurant, a space commensurate to his talent. As much as I loved the old place, the 40-or-so people it could accommodate would sometimes feel a little cramped in the shipping-container space. The new restaurant can hold up to 110 diners plus another 60 in a private dining space.
Second, the kitchen is relatively gigantic. When I reviewed the restaurant in its original space four years ago, Bolus described 404’s kitchen as being so cramped that for four people to work in there, everyone would have to grease up. The new kitchen will allow things like cooking over wood, substantial cryovac and storage space, and the ability to preserve on a large scale. Most importantly, it will give Bolus menu options like large-format dishes — there’s a Bear Creek tri-tip that can serve three people — and much more. Bolus says he still wants to keep the menu on the smaller side, but now he has some freedom to play.
Third, he’s opened Gertie’s, a standalone bar at street level. Over the past few years, Bolus and his staff have quietly built 404’s whiskey collection into one of the best in the city, with some rarities (I tried a Taiwanese whiskey last year that is damn near impossible to find), a lot of breadth (most of the state of Kentucky is represented) and some barrels that he’s pulled personally from great bourbon distilleries. Plus, there’s a small kitchen with a completely different menu full of things like Frito pie (which makes sense when you realize Bolus spent his time at UT eating Petro’s), smoked bologna sandwiches and cold fried chicken. If the rest of the cocktail menu is as good as the brown-butter Old Fashioned — with pecan bitters and a hint of pimento — there will be many late nights spent at Gertie’s.
The Rollout
When I talked to Clinton Gray, E.J. Reed and Derrick Moore for a feature on their Slim & Husky’s pizzeria in September, the entrepreneurs were in the middle of building out a place across the street that would house their retail and catering operations as well as a place to sell … sweet rolls?
Well, The Rollout is now open and humming along, selling six different kinds of cinnamon rolls: O.G. House Rolls (brown sugar and cream cheese), Cookie Monsta (white chocolate sauce, peanut butter and chocolate cookie crumble), Sticky Fingaz (caramel sauce, bacon, Uncle Nearest Whiskey and glazed pecans), Halle Berry (blueberry sauce and fresh lemon glaze) and Ninja Tartle (green apple sauce and jalapeño cream cheese). I’ve had a few of them, and the O.G. and Sticky Fingaz are pretty fantastic. They’re priced two for $4 or a half-dozen for $10. You can call in orders for pickup at 615-750-2817 or just walk in at the 1006 Buchanan St. location.
And the best news? It’s likely the first of a few places. With the trio focusing on expanding Slim & Husky’s to an Antioch location soon, I hope we see The Rollout in a few more spaces.
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