The Butcher Shop, my favorite of Barbara Lynch’s restaurants, is a South End gem that EVERY Bostonian carnivore MUST visit at some point. Amazing deli cuts, cured meats, sausages, pates and aspics. A large wooden cutting-board frame meat-cutting table in the back with bits of bread and oils to flavor and a beautiful wooden bar stocked with great bottles of wine. I came here for a good-bye dinner with a few friends and was taken on one last (for a while) adventure with them I won’t soon forget.

House Bread with Honey and Whipped Kosher-Salt Butter

Comes at the beginning of the meal and stays to accompany the charcuterie that all guests seemingly MUST order. High quality, showing the attention to detail paid to each portion of each meal. The whipped butter was incredibly light and airy and spread beautifully on the bread. The dense, silky honey was a beautiful complement as well.

Charcuterie Plate

All of Butcher Shop’s daily favorites: prosciutto, mortadella, sopressata, rosette de lyon sausage, a beautifully creamy duck liver pate, a rillette, a creamy pate wrapped in cured meat and a golden brown carb-y bread crust served on a wooden cutting board with a bit of beautiful semisweet grainy mustard and a little bunch of pickled red onion slivers. A wonderful taste of the place to share with loved ones.

Merguez

I didn’t taste this one but it looked heavenly. Served with a heap of smoked tomato tapenade, arugula and whole, pickled boquerones (tiny little fish).

Fois Gras on Cornbread

A deliciously smokey, creamy bundle of fois sitting on a sickly sweet, honey-soaked cornbread which brings out the flavor of the protagonist beautifulyl. Bits of candied fruit sprinkled over the plate add a great texture and flavoral contrast. A bite-sized but incredibly complex dish for my bite-sized friend.

Hot Dog a la Maison (Photo Coming Soon)

Butcher Shop’s speciality entree. A delicious bread and butter, sweet sausage wrapped in a natural casing, flavored with fennel, with an incredibly crisp bite and just the right amount of delicious meaty grease for the toasted brioche bun to soak up. Topped off with a bit of deliciously refreshing sauerkraut and served with that great grainy mustard and a cone of crispy house-made rosemary “chips.” What a wonderful last dinner!