Posts Tagged ‘The Butcher’s Block’
Holiday Gift Baskets From The Butcher’s Block
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Wednesday, December 7th, 2011
It’s time to start thinking about holiday gifts!
Image: Iaroslav Neliubov/Shutterstock
Naturally, I think that the best gifts are always edible.
Luckily, the Butcher’s Block is offering some made-to-order holiday gift baskets for the uncreative shoppers. Each basket is tailerd specially for the recipient and can feature any non-perishable item from fruit preserves to chocolate, olive oil, vinegar, and house-made candies. Butcher’s Block manager Pamela Doherty and staff will personally assist you with selecting the perfect pairings of food, wine, and anything else. (Perfect for an office round of Secret Santa!?!)
Examples of baskets include the:
Bubbly Fun Basket with Blanc de Blanc Victoria Cuvée, a champagne stopper, wild hibiscus flowers in syrup, a wine chiller bag, cocktail napkins, Zoe’s Chocolate covered almonds and wine bottle candelabra;
Beer-Stravaganza Basket with Old Chubb Scottish ale, Pranqster Belgian golden ale, Lagunitas Censored Copper Ale, Bavik, Gouden Carolus, wine and beer chiller bag, Good Earth wasabi peanuts, Big Riggs dill pickles, beer bands, Good Earth Cajun gourmet peanuts and six can/bottle neoprene carrier;
Cheese! Marvelous Cheese! Basket with a wooden cheese board, cheese markers, cheese cleaver, cheese lyre, cheese plane, Miguel & Valentino tapenade, Miguel & Valentino Picos de Pan, Maille cornichons, assorted apple and quince jams, balsamic vinegar jelly, and Good Earth butter toasted almonds;
Chocolate Craving Basket with Cass syrah dessert wine, dark chocolate French butter cookies, chocolate covered cherries, Zoe’s chocolate covered almonds, Zoe’s fleur de sel caramels, chocolate and raspberry jam, and a Kinder Schokola chocolate bar.
Some pre-made gift baskets will be available for sale, but most will be made-to-order. Call 703-894-5253 to pre-order your basket.
You can also stop by The Butcher’s Block this Saturday, December 10, from 1-4 p.m., for a special holiday open house where you can taste a variety of beer, wine, olive oil and other gifts, including local artisanal treats. Store manager Pamela Doherty will open a variety of beer, wine and olive oil, as well as some of the shop’s local, artisanal treats, and Chef de Cuisine Chris Watson will be there from 2-3 p.m. to offer ideas and answer questions about how to use some of the various products offered at the Butcher’s Block.
-Julia Harbo
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, December 9th, 2010
My hunt for good meat and cheese usually leads me to Wegman’s. I was lucky enough to check out The Butcher’s Block in Alexandria yesterday, and experience the European feel of this amazing meat and cheese market. The Butcher’s Block has walls of wine, dry goods that you can’t find at grocery stores, and cheeses and meats that are fresh and plentiful.
(Image: Good Food Stories)
The smell of fresh baked bread made me hungry although I had just had lunch, and there were several wine gifts I thought would be great for my friends or sister. The Butcher’s Block offers several wines at a great value, a fridge full of sparkling wines, and a unique selection of Belgian Beers.
(Image: The Butcher’s Block)
Ham, seafood, and poultry fill the butcher’s case and specialty mustards and pastas are displayed at the front of the store. A few small tables covered with blue tablecloths and topped with tea light candles beckon you to sit and people watch while you enjoy a goat cheese sandwich and glass of wine.
(Image: White Rabbit)
Whether stopping in to pick up cheese and bread for a picnic, grabbing a baguette sandwich on your lunch break, or picking up late-minute gifts for friends and family, The Butcher’s Block is a fresh, cool, and cozy place for all things wine, cheese, and meat related.
1600 King Street
Alexandria, VA 22314
703-894-5253
-Liz Stevenson
Earth Day Edibles and Reusables
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Thursday, April 22nd, 2010
Image: Treehugger
A few weeks ago I wrote about restaurants holding Earth Day events around Northern Virginia. For some Earth Day is a marketing tool, for others it’s a good way to spark conversation and encourage involvement. Well, there are a few more events worth checking out to spark that conversation.
The Butcher’s Block in Alexandria will host a complimentary wine tasting from a certified biodynamic and organic winery, Quivira Vineyards and Winery. Jenalyn Johnson of The Country Vintner will lead the tasting of four Quivira wines. In addition, Anne Amie Winery wines, a certified LIVE winery, will be available. The tasting will occur between 6-8pm.
The Grille at Morrison House will offer a four course, 100-mile candlelight dinner with the majority of the ingredients being sourced from local farms within a 100 mile radius. The dinner is $55 per person. Call 703-838-8000 or visit the website to make a reservation.
Jackson 20 will unveil its “J20 Eco Hour” where a large selection of canned beers and boxed wines will be available. Cans are easier to recycle as it is more readily available than glass recycling. The new program will feature $2 “working man’s canned beer” and $5 “craft canned beer.” Eco Hour will start April 22nd and occur daily from 3-7p.m.
Jackson 20 will also unveil its new “late night blackout happy hour” on Earth Day. Every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday from 11pm to close the restaurant will turn off the lights and instead use candlelight, turn up the music, and serve their Eco Hour beer and wine specials. Expect the event to last during the spring and summer.
Firefly will recycle wine corks from the 22nd until the end of April. For every cork you bring in, $1 will be taken off your bill (up to $22) in honor of the day Earth Day is celebrated. You could also use corks to make wreaths, bulletin boards, and business card holders.
Several companies will offer Earth Day freebies; however it seems you have to print off a coupon for some places, which seems to defeat the purpose of Earth Day. Hopefully these places are recycling the paper used for coupons.
On Saturday, April 24 from 11am-3pm all Wegmans stores will trade you a reusable bag for a bag of tightly packed Wegmans plastic bags, which they will then recycle.
DC also has a plethora of Earth Day activities this weekend.
Lastly, if you missed some films during the Environmental Film Festival, here is your chance to catch some free films on Sunday, April 25th at the Carnegie Institution for Science.
Other Earth Day notables:
SunChips will donate $1 for every Facebook fan it receives today (up to $100,000) to environmental education programs. SunChips is also debuting its new 100% compostable bag today. Visit the Biodegradable Products Institute to get your own compostable trash bags, food service items, and packaging materials.
Video: SunChips
- Chef Jaime Oliver and Edible Communities publishers and editors, Brian Halweil and Stephen Munshin, are two of The Daily Green’s 2010 Heart of Green Award recipients.
- Treehugger has a list of funny SomeeCard’s to send to your friends.
- Bon Appetit Magazine has lots of information about how to celebrate Earth Day. Anything from turning old t-shirts into grocery bags to eco-friendly gadgets and how to throw Earth-Friendly dinner parties.
The Daily Green also has some handy tips on how to reuse products you’re considering throwing away or don’t know what to do with. Highlights include egg shells, plastic bottles, and mason jars. You could even build your own house out of plastic bottles. The world’s first plastic bottle building was unveiled in Taiwan recently.
Happy Earth Day!
–Aisha Salazar
How ‘Bout Them (Candied) Apples
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Tuesday, October 27th, 2009
Photo: concessionstands.com
Candied and caramel apples are the quintessential fall-time treats. Though it seems like it would be a no-brainer to whip up a batch of fruit with candy coating on the outside, the process can be deceptively simple, even treacherous, territory in the kitchen.
“Most people don’t take the wax off the apples,”says Kate Baltren of the Butcher’s Block in Alexandria. Seems simple enough, but who among us has attempted to make candied apples only to have our culinary efforts thwarted by a little wax?
If you want to unravel the secrets to making viscously sweet goo stick to your apples, make it a pre-Trick-or-Treat event and head over to an apple dipping demo with Chef Kate this Friday beginning at 5:30 p.m. Kate will be using Honey Crisp apples since they are in season right now, but at home you can use any variety you like.
Samples will be widely available of the apple confections, too, including your basic caramel and candy apple recipes, along with more adventurous adult versions like red wine caramel. And speaking of wine, there will be a lot of that kind of sampling too.
How ’bout you folks out there? Any candy apple horror stories you can share?
–Amy Loeffler
Posted by The Editorial Desk / Friday, March 13th, 2009
Would that prime cuts of beefs and charcuterie could save our flagging economy.
(Photo: Laurent Jung)
Because this area boasts a slew of custom meat purveyors par excellence.
Tallula/EatBar ex-toque Nathan Anda left the Arlington gastrohub last summer to develop his own charcuterie concept, which has since evolved into the Red Apron Butchery. Though he’s still scouting final locations for the shop–something Anda hopes is “weeks, not months away”–Anda already envisions a full-service facility replete with homemade sauces, gourmet foodstuffs and exotic proteins.
“It’ll be an experience, going in there,” Anda insists. He plans to specialize in “stuff that isn’t available everywhere,” tossing out pig ear terrines, cured lamb bellies, handmade lardo and trotters as potential impulse buys.
In the meantime, Anda’s current catalog (cured meats, homemade hot dogs) will be available for retail purchase at Planet Wine and officially debuts in Buzz‘s panini line. Anda is also firming up his relationships with various local farmers markets, estimating that he’ll make the rounds to the weekly Ballston, Penn Quarter and possibly one other open-air showplace beginning early next month.
Anda is also talking with fellow Neighborhood Restaurant Group chefs Anthony Chittum (Vermilion) and Frank Morales (Rustico) about weaving some of his wares into their menus.
“Hopefully, in the coming months, he’ll be using my pepperoni,” Anda said of the spicy sausage he’s developed for Morales’ gourmet pies. He also plans to make his products readily available to incoming Tallula chef Barry Koslow–though he suspects the charcuterie-savvy Koslow will not want for jaw-dropping snackables.
“With Barry coming in, it’s [Tallula] going to be awesome,” Anda predicts.
Meanwhile, Robert Wiedmaier’s new gourmet shop, The Butcher’s Block should be up and running shortly. Chef Chris Watson will oversee a gourmet retailer (along with the fledgling BRABO/BRABO Tasting Room) poised to offer fresh breads, wild game and a bevy of Belgian beers.
Down the road in Del Ray, Aussie butcher Stephen Gatward has developed a loyal following at Let’s Meat on the Avenue by serving up hard-to-find items (kangaroo meat, anyone?) as well as neighborhood necessities (smoked dog bones).
For those who enjoy a a dash of intrigue with their entrails, the mercurial Jamie Stachowski continues to peddle his cured goodies in the darnedest places (next delivery: tomorrow at noon).
And I would be terribly remiss if I didn’t give a nod to the gourmet links that spring from the mind of improbable sausage baron, Stanley Feder.
We’ve never had it so good.
–Warren Rojas