At a glance

BROAD STREET BUTCHER

What: A neighborhood butcher shop offering fresh-cut meats, seafood, eggs, produce, herbs, pantry staples, seasonings and rotating meat-and-meal bundle deals.

When: Open 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon-4 p.m. Sunday.

Where: 405 S. Broad St., Edenton.

By Nicole Bowman-Layton

EDENTON — Behind the counter at Broad Street Butcher, the tools of a traditional neighborhood meat market are in plain view.

A large wooden butcher block anchors the work area. Nearby are a meat saw and rolls of brown butcher paper, ready for an order to be cut and wrapped. Customers can look through the case, choose what they want and have it prepared for them.

But what else customers will find when they walk into the airy storefront at 405 S. Broad St. is still evolving.

That is largely by design.

Broad Street Butcher opened this summer, and owner and Edenton native Kristopher “Kris” Bateman, who also owns Downtown Roots a few doors away, said the first few months have been about listening to customers and adjusting the shop’s offerings based on what they want.

“It’s kind of seeing what people kind of enjoy the most,” Bateman said while preparing meat for a customer. “It’s been trial and error so far.”

The result is a butcher shop that extends beyond steaks and chops — and offers some cuts and preparations customers may not ordinarily find in a grocery store.

Traditional offerings include ribs, pork butt, whole chickens and an assortment of beef cuts, while seafood, including salmon, is also available. Less-common selections have included teres major and prepared items such as pinwheel pot roast, stuffed chicken and stuffed tomatoes.

Teres major is a small cut of beef from the shoulder area known for its tenderness. Offerings such as that give customers a chance to move beyond the more standardized selections typically found in a supermarket meat case.

The rest of the store expands on that idea.

Paintings of cattle hang near the cutting area, while meat fills the display cases and employees work at the butcher block within view of customers. Elsewhere, shelves and refrigerated cases hold eggs, vegetables, fresh herbs, pasta, canned tomatoes, sauces, buns and other pantry staples.

Bags of charcoal sit near the front of the shop — another indication that a customer stopping in for meat can leave with much of what is needed to put a meal on the table or fire up the grill.

The store’s changing bundle deals bring many of those offerings together.

An Aug. 14 special offered customers a choice between two $50 packages. One included 2 pounds of teres major, a pork roast, a whole chicken and beef links. The other paired 2 pounds of top sirloin with wings, bone-in pork chops and lentils.

Other bundles have combined items such as seasoned wings and flank steak with a stuffed T-bone and eggs.

The combinations change, giving customers an opportunity to try familiar staples alongside cuts they might not otherwise choose.

That willingness to experiment extends to what sits on top of the butcher counter.

Among the seasonings for sale are blends carrying the Downtown Roots name, connecting the new business with Bateman’s restaurant at 415 S. Broad St. One seasoning is offered without salt after customers asked for the option.

Bateman said the shop is looking at expanding its salt-free choices to other seasoning blends.

Customer response is also helping shape what Broad Street Butcher hopes to source locally.

For now, much of the shop’s produce comes through a food distributor that does local sourcing, Bateman said. But he has also begun hearing directly from area growers interested in selling through the store.

One farmer has already told Bateman that when his cabbage crop is ready next year, he wants to bring some to the butcher shop for Bateman to purchase and sell.

“I’ve been in contact with a bunch of different farmers, so we will have product from them,” Bateman said. “And that’s the goal — to continue to just provide really good food for the community.”

What is available locally will naturally change with the seasons. Bateman pointed to hydroponically grown tomatoes from the Williamston area that the store had recently carried before their season ended.

Other parts of the business are still developing.

Broad Street Butcher currently brings in sausages made by outside producers. Bateman said some of the same products are used by other markets and restaurants, and he sees value in offering products that others already make well.

“We want to give credit where credit’s due,” he said.

Eventually, however, Bateman wants the shop to develop its own signature sausage and hamburger and grind meat in-house.

Broad Street Butcher is Bateman’s latest investment in Edenton’s food scene. Downtown Roots, located just a few doors away, has grown considerably since opening a few years ago. In an interview with Visit Edenton earlier this year, Bateman described originally envisioning it as a small neighborhood restaurant before its customer base and staff grew beyond his expectations. He also spoke about his desire to invest in the community where he was born and raised.

The butcher shop puts that investment almost next door.

Bateman said the response since opening has been good, but the shop is still learning what Edenton wants from its newest food business.

For now, that means keeping the butcher paper ready, the cases stocked and listening when someone walks through the door with a request.