When we left Chicago, one of the places we were saddest to say goodbye to was our favorite butcher shop: Homestead Meats in Evanston. When we got to Cleveland, we were super happy to find lots of great fresh meat purveyors at the West Side Market – however nothing quite fit the bill of a single location where we could get fresh meat, house-made sausage, charcuterie, prepared meals, and more. With a new addition to Slavic Village – Saucisson (5324 Fleet Ave, Cleveland, OH 44105) – we feel like we have found a Cleveland butcher replacement for our beloved Homestead Meats.
Saucisson is a fell-fledged butcher and you can see back into the kitchen where everything is made – we were also excited to learn that they are offering sausage-making classes – the next one is on Saturday, May 20 (call for details). Saucisson is a labor of love for founders and owners Penny Barend and Melissa Khoury, which started out as a pop-up at Farmer’s Markets, before opening their own bricks and mortar location. The new Saucisson space is clean and bright, with a fully-stocked cooler and freezer full of along with stock, soups, and lard. Saucisson had a variety of beef and pork cuts for sale, alongside a variety of pates, bacon, jerky, rilettes and esoteric sausages, all made/butchered in house. We sampled the German-style currywurst, the Oaxacan black mole sausage and the Filipino longganisa (a sweet breakfast sausage). Quite the spread – though we think the Mole sausage was our favorite! Every week the selection rotates, so be sure to call ahead if you want something specific.
One of the other great features of Saucisson is that they have rotating food menu every day, which you can take out or eat in store (check out Facebook for the day’s menu). On the night we visited there was Italian chicken meatball soup ($5) and pulled pork tacos ($8). Though not a traditional taco, the super tender and flavorful pulled pork stole the show, smothered in green salsa, cotija cheese, slaw and pickled onions. Yum! Saucisson is only open Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 11 a.m to 7 p.m so be sure to time your visit properly. When we visited on a Friday night at 6, we got the last of the food.
Even more promising – the Saucisson team was super excited to potentially help us out with some custom butchery – we of course wanted to see if they could make the Brazilian classic cut of beef, picanha. They assured us that with a little advance notification, they could pretty much make anything. This stretch of Slavic Village is just starting recover from the housing bubble and economic downtown, and Saucisson is a welcome addition to the neighborhood’s commercial center. But Saucisson would be a great addition to any Cleveland neighborhood. We look forward to becoming regulars!
Eating The World 