By Bob Sacks
What happens when you combine the oh-so-hot farm-to-table, locavore food trend, with a longtime, family-owned meat purvey- or, and wrap it up in a cool and funky, New York-style industrial setting? You get the recently opened, most talked about new restaurant to hit the Jersey Shore in a long time – The Butcher’s Block in Long Branch.
The D’Ambrisi family, who have been supplying high quality, locally raised meat to many of the Shore’s restaurants for over four decades, decided that the time was right to repurpose some adjacent office space and create a unique dining experience where patrons can choose their own cut and size of meat from the butcher’s case in the “shop” section, and have it cooked to their exact liking. Their thinking was clearly on target as the restaurant has become the toughest reservation in the area to score, right from the opening bell. This is challenging for this brand-new restaurant, which is working on methods to allow them to honor reservations in a timely fashion. We waited almost 40 minutes past our reservation time to be seated, but I was advised that they are aware of the pressures of instant “success” and are seeking to smooth out the bumps as quickly as possible. Once the food started arriving, the wait was deemed worth it!
An appetizer of Roasted Oysters ($14), fired over wood, dressed with an herb garlic butter, was spot-on. The six perfectly cooked medium-sized oysters were tender and deeply flavorful, and far too easy to wolf down.
One of my guests had nothing but rave reviews for the Steak Tartare ($16) dressed with Dijon mustard, capers, shallots, cornichon and topped with a free-range egg yolk, it was super-fresh, with a meaty, rich mouthfeel, and a nice zip from the seasonings.
A Special Salad of the night ($18), burrata cheese, fresh Jersey peaches and tomatoes, and figs, dressed in a sweet and spicy balsamic vinaigrette, was the perfect summer shore starter.
Photo by Bob Sacks
We really enjoyed an order of house-made sausage ($15.19); sweet Italian-style pork with a mild zing was served with cherry peppers, chimichurri sauce and onions.
Fried Balls ($12), medium-sized meatballs with salsa verde and pecorino cheese, were tasty, but overly crisp on the outside, suggesting they had been in the fryer a minute too long.
A whole roasted Black Sea Bass from Local 130, a superb area fish and seafood purveyor which only sells local products, was served on the bone, with head and tail, to ensure its juiciness. It was well worth the effort to filet it myself.
Dinner at this meat-centric eatery is not complete without a visit to the butcher, and two of my guests selected a goodly sized Ribeye Steak ($63) to share. It arrived at the table perfectly sliced, medium rare as ordered, adorned simply with salsa verde and sea salt.
An enjoyable side dish, Crispy Potatoes ($10 small /$20 large) were served family-style in a large bowl. Crusty on the outside and moist on the inside, they were an excellent accompaniment to the entrees.
Another side of Garlic Haricot Verts ($10/$20) was tender and tasty.
The Butcher’s Block is BYO. At the moment, they provide European country- side stemless glassware (read: Ball jam jars). Yes, they’re quaint, but food of this quality deserves fine wine, and fine wine tastes far better in good glassware, so for my next visit I will tote along some wine glasses with the hope that some more conventional stemware is in the offing. Happily, decanters are available.
Photo by Bob Sacks
In keeping with the locavore theme, we opened a 2017 Cape May Winery Albarino. This white Spanish grape is very well suited for growing in New Jersey and offers subtle spiciness with lots of peach and nectarine undertones, which paired well with the appetizers. For red, with the entrees, a 2004 Rioja, Vina Olabarri Grand Riserva, a blend of predominantly Tempranillo, with Mazuelo and Graciano, offered black cherries and a hint of chocolate on the nose, and was fully mature with no signs of any decline starting.
Amazingly, we still had a bit of room left for dessert, so we chose Ice Cream Sandwiches ($9); vanilla ice cream wedged between small homemade chocolate chip cookies, with a creamy chocolate foam for dipping. There were four other desserts listed on the menu, but sadly, all were sold out the night of our visit. But based on the excellence of this dessert, we will come back to sample the others.
At this early stage, the food and service at The Butcher’s Block is already very good and merits the praise it has been receiving. I anticipate that once this wildly popular new restaurant has had time to manage the clamoring crowd of diners, the experience will become even more enjoyable.
The Butcher’s Block
235 West End Ave.
Long Branch
732-795-3903
thebutchersblocknj.com
Bob Sacks, longtime food and wine buff, reviews restaurants in this column. Follow him on Instagram @dinnerwithbob.
