Hillcrest Artisan Meats - The Happy Meat

Hillcrest Artisan Meats - The Happy Meat



Hillcrest Artisan Meats is the latest wonderful addition to the neighborhood.

Brandon Brown, owner of the shop at 2807 Kavanaugh Blvd., offers all-natural, all-organic meats and a variety of great soups and sandwiches.

Mr. Brown makes fresh sausages and other delicious concoctions at the full-service butcher shop, which obtains all of its meat from farms in Arkansas. Farms he buys from include Freckled Face Farm, Falling Sky Farm and Farm Girl.

If you're looking for a free-range chicken, the kind of bird that tastes like what you had at Sunday dinner when you were a child, this is the place to go.

"We call it 'happy meat' here. The end result is the same, but it lives all its life naturally," Brandon said. "It tastes better, and it's better for you ... and it's morally right, I believe."

It's also expensive. "You are not buying a 99 cent per pound Tyson chicken breast. I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for," Brandon said, adding that only one customer had balked at the prices.

"He kind of huffed at the price (of a 4-pound chicken). Later he wrote on our web site that it was the best chicken he'd ever had, and that he and his wife got four meals out of it. Now he buys Falling Sky Farm's chickens exclusively."

Brandon does fresh ground beef each morning, and the shop offers a variety of soups and sandwiches, a menu that changes every day. Some examples of soups are vegetable barley, broccoli cheddar, beef barley and chicken noodle.

He offers "charcuterie" (shahr-KOO-tuhr-ee) services, which is the fancy French culinary art of curing, salting and smoking meat. He explained that at its most basic form, it's smoked bacon.

If there's something special you want, and it is not in stock, Brandon will make it for you. "You want spicy Italian sausage? Give us an hour."

At an open house at Hillcrest Designer Jewelry attended by Shoppe Talk in December, folks were oooing and aaahing over a tray from Hillcrest Artisan Meats. It was not just the taste, but the presentation. Even the decorative smoked almonds got raves.

The shop is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It is located on Kavanaugh between the post office and Hillcrest Gallery. 671-6328.

Story by Bobbi Nesbitt