She was immersed in what she calls a “hodgepodge of projects,” which included writing about food for Richmond Magazine and working as opening chef at Edible Garden, when she had the epiphany to start a butchery. She was upset by the fact Richmond did not have this resource after hearing TV chef Alton Brown say, “Ask your local butcher” on the Food Network. Tanya’s next project was to fix this problem, of course. At first the task was daunting. “The hardest thing was when I actually got the financing,” she reflects, “I sat in my car and cried.” These were not tears of joy but of fear. “The whole idea that I was putting my future on the line for this crazy idea that everyone told me I was going to fail miserably [in scared me].”

 

Before starting the task of turning an empty shell into a thriving business, she found courage in fellow chef Julia Childs. She settled down on the beach with Julia’s biography, My Life in France, for a much-needed vacation before the mayhem. “If Julia can learn to cook at 37 and become a culinary icon, I can open a butcher shop,” she said. Tanya had just had her 37th birthday.

After the three-day vacation from worrying about the business plan, she returned to the task at hand and became, as she says, “her own general contractor.” Tanya was in the trenches, pulling half of the space’s wires with an electrician, pulling her own permits, and building the register station. She invested herself in the traditional way with “sweat and some blood,” she says.

Tanya was armed with zeal and interest but did not qualify as a butcher yet. She and newly hired chef Chris Mattera set out on a quest of reading, research and trial and error. She was always good at the preparation of meat that chefs did and admitted that her greatest strength was modesty. “I know that I don’t know what I am doing,” she says of her inexperience. “I know a lot [and] I can learn.” After the first year and a half, Tanya says, “We could hold our heads up and say that we were butchers instead of saying that we were meat cutters.” They were instilled with confidence when Chris took a six-week trip to Italy to work in a fourth-generation butcher shop where he was able to hold his own. However, Tanya still calls any publication’s reference to her as a “master butcher” “bull.”

Whether or not another project is on her horizon is hard to tell. Tanya does laughingly admit that she is proud of the fact she has maintained the same job for four years. The small gem hidden away on Belmont continues to be a haven for the gourmet and artisanal. It is still the place to go if seeking quality meats, recipe advice, or just old-fashioned interaction. It represents a steadfast commitment to local goods. Above all, Belmont Butchery is Richmond’s answer to Alton Brown’s command, “Ask your local butcher.”

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Writer Leah Small tried Belmont Butchery's chorizo sausage and and thinks it is  the epitome of spicy deliciousness!

Visit the Belmont Butchery online for location and for product information, including a wide selection of “Charcuterie” (handcrafted cured meats) and sausage. (Check with the butchery for current availability.)

Belmont Butchery Charcuterie includes the BB bacon (“slow smoked over hickory & cherry and cured using simple, classic ingredients – kosher salt, brown sugar, maple syrup and whole black peppercorns”—amazing!), duck confit, pate maison, prosciutto, three types of salame, and Twenty Mile Rabbit Terrine (a terrine en gelee made with ingredients sourced from within a 20-mile radius, “local, sustainable and delicious,” including rabbits, organic carrots and leeks).

Belmont Butchery sausage includes Thuringer bratwurst, Cajun boudin, Della Nonna, duck with Grand Marnier, jalapeno and cheddar, lamb with rosemary, and Portuguese chorizo.

The store is located one block off Cary Street Road, at 15 N. Belmont Avenue in Richmond, Virginia. Open from Monday through Friday 9:30am to 7:00pm and Saturday 9:30am to 6:00pm, Belmont Butchery can be reached at (804) 422-8519.

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V Digital Edition, September 2010

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