Traditional butcher shops add prime-cut touches

— -- Nathan Anda turns the 250-pound pig on its back, grabs hold of its sides and forces the carcass open with his hands. Over the next hour, Anda, an in-house butcher for several restaurants in Washington, D.C., will use a variety of knives, a cleaver and a hacksaw to break down the pig into what will become bacon, pork chops, baby back ribs, ham, prosciutto and even headcheese.

In an age of prepackaged and pre-portioned meat, it's a primeval process. But a new generation — many of them former chefs — is reviving the craft of butchery and putting a modern spin on the traditional butcher shop.

"As a chef, you're trying to get a better product at a better price," says Anda, 32. "Using the whole animal lets you do that. I get both the expensive and inexpensive cuts for less money from a farmer I know and trust."

Anda, who has gone from chef to butcher/chef, plans to open Red Apron butcher shop in the capital this year. Besides slicing and portioning meat, Red Apron also will sell cured meats, hot dogs and bacon made in-house, and he will have a small dining room for customers.

The addition of a gourmet market, dining room or class space is the biggest change to these new butcher shops. In New York, the restaurateurs behind Marlow & Sons and several other Brooklyn restaurants opened up Marlow & Daughter. The butcher shop provides the meat for their restaurants and is a small retail store that also sells cheese, risotto and other sundries often used in their own kitchens.

In Alexandria, Va., Robert Wiedmaier opened The Butcher Block next to his bistro, Brabo. The shop offers wine, international beers, cheese, desserts and prepared food, as well as charcuterie and prime cuts of meats. Wiedmaier also offers regular cooking demonstrations from deboning a chicken to stuffing a pheasant.

"It's not purely butchering animals all day long," Wiedmaier says. "I'm getting better-quality meat at a better price, and we pass those savings on to the customer."