Snacks n'at: Butcher on Butler renews meat-cutter culture in Lawrenceville

When butcher Bruce Foster died in December 2012, it was a major blow to the neighborhood. Generations of Lawrenceville residents had bought their homemade kielbasa and smoked cured hams at Foster's Meats, and the memories were layered through the neighborhood like marbled fat in a pork shoulder.

That could have been the end. But just down the street, chef Michael Rado was looking for a change. At 35, the Pittsburgh native had done just about everything he wanted to do in the culinary world, from working in the kitchens of culinary superstars Joel Robuchon and Daniel Boulud in New York and Las Vegas, to opening the steakhouse at the Rivers Casino, to consulting at the French cafe Tartine in the West End.

“Bruce Foster — he had all our business anyway,” Rado says. “I'm a big fan of supporting local businesses. We lived three blocks down the street. Once the ‘Closed' sign went up, I went, ‘Man, I hope that doesn't become anything but a butcher shop.' ”

For Rado, life outside the kitchen had begun to seem more important.

“My little girl was over 2,” Rado says. “I was working 14 to 16 hours a day in Canonsburg, and would go two to three days without seeing her. This was something I was always willing to do until that little girl came along. I don't have anything left to prove in the kitchen. I'd rather do something closer to the heart.”

Butchery was something he enjoyed already.

“I always wanted to be cutting the meat, cutting the fish, making the sauces,” he says. “That was my favorite part of my career. There's also this beautiful smokehouse out back. It's as old as the building. That's one of the big reasons we wanted to be a part of this. It's unique to Southwestern Pennsylvania.”

It wasn't without risk. Butcher on Butler opened just before Lent, which, Rado admits, wasn't a great idea.

Wisely, he decided to keep some of the neighborhood's favorite items from the Foster era.

“It'd be suicide to open without Foster's kielbasa,” Rado says. “That's been keeping the lights on for about 70 years. We took what Bruce was doing well and expanded upon it.

“We do a hot lunch every day. We were selling out of fried shrimp po'boys (during Lent). Easter was great. Everybody was coming back for that original Slovenian kielbasa. We were making it every day from before sunrise to after sunset.”

There are typically eight to 12 flavors of bacon for sale, ranging from rashers — a traditional British style of bacon — to jalapeno bacon, horseradish bacon and Hungarian paprika jowl bacon. House-made beef sticks are doing well right now, perfect for hunting and camping season.

Most lunch specials, like the Corned Beef (with chips, slaw and drink), are $7. Occasionally, something like the Cajun Grilled Wings will be $8.

Local sources are used wherever possible.

“We've made a pledge — within three years of opening, everything will be local,” Rado says. “Not the broad definition of 450 miles, I mean a farm everybody who shops here could drive to in the afternoon.

“We get our lamb from Elysian Fields. It's the best in the world, and it's right here in our backyard, in Waynesburg. Beef from Jubilee Hilltop Ranch in Altoona. Chickens from Gerber's Farms in Ohio. It's a bird that eats what it's supposed to eat. It's not pumped full of crap. They don't do this to be trendy — it's an Amish family farm. Clarion River Organics (Sligo), we get whole hogs from them.”

Getting to know the neighborhood butcher tends to pay dividends for years and years.

“Our advantage is if someone wants something, I'm going to order it,” Rado says. “My culinary background helps. I can tell people how to prepare everything. With butcher shops in general, (customers) want to see (meat) cut, they want to talk to me.

“My measure of success is seeing the same faces again and again. Half are from Lawrenceville, but some are from Harmarville or Butler, and we get a lot of Bruce's customers.”

Butcher on Butler, 5145 Butler St., Lawrenceville. Hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays Details: 412-781-2157 or www.butcheronbutler.com

Michael Machosky is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at mmachosky@tribweb.com or 412-320-7901.