There’s a new boutique market and butcher shop coming to Walker’s Point early next year.
The La Merenda Market, which will carry a variety of goods produced in the kitchens of La Merenda and Engine Company No. 3, will be located to the east of La Merenda at 809 S. Barclay St. and is expected to open in mid-January.
Owner Peter Sandroni says that the former residential property, which lies adjacent to the La Merenda patio, has been used for years as storage for the restaurant. But, more recently, they’ve made improvements to the property, adding a full production kitchen which the restaurant uses for meat-cutting and sausage production.
The shop, he says, will occupy the front portion of the building, which faces Barclay Street and will display a sign created by local artist and La Merenda bartender Ryan Mahony.
Sandroni says market will offer a variety of items already being used in the restaurants. That includes locally sourced proteins prepared by onsite butcher Butcher Dan Bolton including Wisconsin Meadows beef (in cuts including tenderloin, sirloin, ribeye and potentially ground beef) and occasionally pasture-raised veal. There will also be Three Brothers Farm chicken, Maple Creek Farm pork, Glenrock Farm lamb and La Clare Farm goat.
Guests can also expect bangers, breakfast sausage, chicken, chorizo, duck and rabbit sausages along with other prepared food items including stocks, soups, dishes like butter chicken and pastas including housemade cappaletti. Sandroni says the product mix will change, based on both what’s coming into the restaurants and customer demand.
"We did a survey of our guests about a year ago to see what they’d like to see if we started a shop," he notes. "So we’re beginning with a lot of the things they mentioned they wanted. From there, our plan is to let the shop grow organically."
Since the shop will function as an extension of the restaurants, there will also be synchronicity between the two. For example, any proteins that don’t sell on a given day at the shop will be used to create dishes in the restaurants.
Watch OnMilwaukee for additional details, as well as a preview of the shop early next year.
Lori is an avid cook whose accrual of condiments and spices is rivaled only by her cookbook collection. Her passion for the culinary industry was birthed while balancing A&W root beer mugs as a teenage carhop, fed by insatiable curiosity and fueled by the people whose stories entwine with each and every dish. She’s had the privilege of chronicling these tales via numerous media, including OnMilwaukee and in her book “Milwaukee Food.” Her work has garnered journalism awards from entities including the Milwaukee Press Club.
When she’s not eating, photographing food, writing or recording the FoodCrush podcast, you’ll find Lori seeking out adventures with her husband Paul, traveling, cooking, reading, learning, snuggling with her cats and looking for ways to make a difference.
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