Northshore Magazine

Northshore November 2019

Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.

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NORTHSHOREMAG.COM 44 NOVEMBER 2019 PHOTOGRAPHS BY RACHAEL KLOSS the two was top of mind for their shop, The Modern Butcher in Newburyport. "I do the sign of the cross when I pass road kill, and we save turtles on the way to work," Warren says. Being able to offer a butcher shop that treats animals with respect was a definite priority. "Knowing that everything was done with the utmost care for the animal, from birth all the way through death, was critical," he explains. "The farmer himself brings the animal through the front door of our shop. And that's what I believe in—giving people that connection to the farm and to the animal." That connection requires some flexibility, both on Lisa and Warren's parts and on the E AT + D R I N K Lisa and Warren are the owners of The Modern Butcher. Lisa and Warren Means really wanted to open a butcher shop—so much that they sold their house in Stoneham and moved in with Warren's parents. So much that they drove four hours nearly every day for two years to Sutter Meats in Northampton to learn whole-animal butchery, on top of full-time jobs. This meant that they slept very little, and one year celebrated Valentine's Day at a gas station D'Angelo's sub shop. "We believe really, really deeply in this," Lisa says. "If we were going to do it, we were going to risk everything." The Means are both animal lovers and meat eaters, and finding a way to reconcile The Modern Butcher brings snout-to-tail meat to Newburyport. BY JEANNE O'BRIEN COFFEY WHOLE HOG part of the customer. Because the couple only purchases whole animals directly from local farms, they need to figure out how to use every single bit. "I'm using everything from the nose to the tail," Warren says. "I can guarantee you, there is minimal waste. We do everything we can to honor that animal for giving their life for us." It's an admirable goal, but it means that the shop doesn't always have exactly what a customer wants. It's hard to accommodate an order for 12 pounds of chicken wings, for example, because that would require about 30 chickens. That likely never crosses your mind when picking up a plastic-wrapped package L I V E + P L AY

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