Carnivores who live in Hillcrest or anywhere even relatively close, this is the best news you’ll hear all day: Former Boulevard chef Brandon Brown plans to open Hillcrest Artisan Meat — HAM for short — by Nov. 1 (or if everything goes well in time for Hillcrest Harvest Fest on Oct. 15) at 2807 Kavanaugh next to Kroger and the U.S. Post Office.
Brown moved to Little Rock with his family about a year ago from Eugene, Ore., where he was charcuterie chef at King Estate Winery for four years.
Brown said HAM will be a full-service butcher shop and charcuterie, where he’ll butcher, cure and make everything on-site: bacon, ham, sausage, turkey breasts, pork chops, pastrami, brisket, various confits, salami, pate and other charcuterie. Everything will be sourced locally, except, initially, prosciutto, which Brown said takes a year to cure.
I can’t wait.