Gastro expansion

Publican Quality Meats butcher shop now open, sandwiches to debut Monday

02/08/2012 10:00 PM

By BEN MEYERSON
Editor

7 Comments - Add Your Comment


Drew Colglazier, a butcher at Publican Quality Meats in the West Loop, reaches for a cut of meat inside a cooler on Monday. J. GEIL/Photo Editor

By almost any measure, the Publican has been a success.

One of Chicago’s first and most prominent gastropubs, the West Loop restaurant is packed on weekends and many weekdays alike by folks from around the city. But while that kind of business in this economy is a blessing, in some respects, Chris Kuziemko said it was holding the restaurant back.

The restaurant’s prep area was too small, and with the amount of food they were going through to keep up with customers, there wasn’t enough room for creativity.

“It’s tiny. We just couldn’t do it,” said Kuziemko, who’s been with the Publican since its launch in 2008. “And it’s a great thing that we’re busy all the time, but with the volume, we just couldn’t keep up.”

So they decided to expand. On Monday, the new project opened up with Kuziemko as chef at its helm: Publican Quality Meats, just across the street at 825 W. Fulton Market. But what began in concept as an expanded kitchen for doing more storage and full-animal butchery quickly shifted to an outward-facing operation.

This week, the shop opened featuring a rich selection of meats, cheeses, odds and ends. On Monday, they’ll add fresh-made sandwiches and coffee to the mix.

“It evolved into this giant, multifaceted thing,” Kuziemko said. “It’s been this big kind of whirl, just figuring out how we can sort of utilize it.”

The shop’s sandwich service has been hotly anticipated. Though they haven’t released a menu yet, the details Kuziemko offered up included a mouthwatering preview of what’s to come when it debuts next week, on Feb. 13.

“A lot of the things we’re going to be doing is basically like a Publican set on a piece of bread,” he said. “It’s a set that we’ve done at the Publican in a bowl with a little bit of juice around it, only now here it’s on a flatbread that’s made by the baker and allowed to slow ferment a whole day.”

But what’s already available is like a small general store from foodie heaven. The butcher case holds unusual cut after cut of meat from farmers. Pork skirt, rabbit, quail, boar. Numerous wheels of cheese, piled on top of each other with names like “Mountaineer” and “Black Swan.”

While they also sell a few high-quality basics — from Mexican Coca-Cola to Heinz Ketchup and Sriracha chili sauce, there are also things you’d never find at Jewel or Dominick’s in a million years.

A pot of duck confit, stewing in broth in the front of the meat case. A plastic tub of duck fat. House-made charcuterie.

“The best way I’ve been able to describe it to people is that we let people into what we’ve been doing at the Publican,” Kuziemko said. “By bringing all these products in, they can see what we work with every day. People walk in and they see the products that we work with, they see the meat cuts that we work with. It’s kind of like it’s our philosophy on display.”

One of the most basic yet most unique things they’ll offer is their house-made stocks, derived from the carcasses of the animals they’ve diced up. Though simple to make, few people have duck, chicken, turkey and beef on hand to make the unique and flavorful mixes.

Gesturing to a huge vat of stock behind him in Publican Quality Meats’ nerve center (its basement kitchen), Kuziemko said it’s one of the quality things that they can easily provide people that they might not be able to get on their own.

“For us, we take it for granted in the kitchen — we can always have good stocks. Most people, they buy those cartons or those cans; they’re [crap],” Kuziemko said. “And most people are too lazy actually to make it at home, even though it’s easy. If somebody wants a good stock, we want to make sure we’ll have that.”

On the back end, the new space will allow the Publican — as well as its sister restaurants Avec, Blackbird and Big Star — to up its game. Publican Quality Meats will be making bread for all the restaurants, as well as serving as a test kitchen of sorts.

“We had some solid recipes at the Publican,” Kuziemko said. “But with the equipment and the facilities we have now, we feel like we can really push it to the next level and give consumers, the customer, a better product.”


7 Comments - Add Your Comment



By Penelope from Wicker Park
Posted: 02/15/2012 9:53 AM

Can't wait to try this place. Roll me away on the Black Swan! What's stock?


By WestLooper from West Loop
Posted: 02/13/2012 3:21 PM

Expensive isn't the same as good, but it isn't the same as pretentious either. We've been to a few of the other places, which I agree have good value products.


By Another SL Parent from South Loop
Posted: 02/13/2012 12:07 PM

WeLo if you live in the area, then you should visit Peoria Meat on west lake http://www.peoriapacking.com/ They may not have everything, but it's good quality stuff that are a lot cheaper and definitely not pretentious.


By WestLooper from West Loop
Posted: 02/10/2012 11:58 PM

Packed today over lunch. The place is going to be an instant hit.


By WeLo from West Loop
Posted: 02/10/2012 2:46 PM

SL Parent: If well crafted, good quality products means "pretentious" then by all means, call me pretentious. Not sure why you have a bugaboo about this place, but most of us in this area welcome it and look forward to seeing what it has to offer.


By Mmmmmm
Posted: 02/10/2012 11:39 AM

This sounds fantastic!!!! I am DEFINITELY too lazy to make stock at home and can\'t wait to buy some from here!


By Another SL Parent from South Loop
Posted: 02/10/2012 10:28 AM

"And most people are too lazy actually to make it at home," No Mr. Kuziemko we are not too lazy to make it at home. We just don't have a place to store it. In case you haven't notice living around the loop doesn't give you a lot of space. Oh, wait you did notice it and got a place across the street. Hope they survive, but there are many other butcheries in that area that are a lot less pretentious and cheaper. I will continue to buy from them.