Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Know your meat

No mechanical slaughter here, folks

Butcher James Holtslag studied under L.A. butchery Lindy and Grundy.
Butcher James Holtslag studied under L.A. butchery Lindy and Grundy.
Place

Alchemy

1503 30th Street, San Diego

I didn’t know sheep had rectangular pupils. I guess I’d never gotten close enough to notice. But there they were, pleading up at me as I held the animal’s head and torso in place over a hole in the ground. Without ceremony, Asan slit its throat with a kitchen knife. We watched in silence as the sheep shuddered, little rectangles constricting in panic — life draining out of them and into the earth — then dilating into cold, vacant slots when the kicking stopped.

That was the first time I ever saw an animal slaughtered. I was 20 years old. I was also a vegetarian of about three years. Asan, a West African dance instructor from Senegal, laughed at me and my friends as we fumbled to help him skin the carcass and remove the organs. He had done it so many times that the movements came effortlessly. I felt like a fool.

Tri-tip and garlic pot-sticker
New York strip, gochujang, kimchi, marigolds

That night I ate the traditional sheep stew that Asan prepared for his son’s first birthday. It made sense. I felt like I’d earned it. Or more, that the sheep deserved it. Eating the animal gave its life closure — kept it connected, somehow.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After that I began selectively eating meat with increasing regularity. I recognized that my hesitation wasn’t with killing but with the largely mechanical slaughter that is typical of factory farms in America.

It was this very same uneasiness that led butcher James Holtslag and longtime friend Trey Nichols to start Heart & Trotter — a whole-animal butchery that aims to open shop in North Park this November.

“We’ve really come together with friends and family in San Diego through dinners and barbecues, and we kind of got fed up that we didn’t know where our meat was coming from,” Nichols recalled during their August debut at Alchemy in South Park.

“Somebody would ask, ‘Hey, where’s this cut from?’ and we would have no idea. We weren’t even sure if it was from one animal or not.”

In response, Holtslag embarked on a three-month apprenticeship at Lindy and Grundy. The Los Angeles local/sustainable butcher shop was the only of its kind in Southern California, until now.

“Whole animal means two things,” Nichols explained. “We are not going to buy another cow until that steer is all gone and sold. [It also means that] nothing is going to go to waste.”

To demonstrate, Holtslag butchered a beef hindquarter while servers distributed a six-course bovine-and-beer pairing orchestrated by Alchemy chef Ricardo Heredia and Societe Brewing Company.

“The key to whole-animal butchery is gravity,” said Holtslag. “You want to disconnect the muscle from the connective tissue. The more fat, the easier it is to disconnect. More fat means more flavor, but with grass-fed you already have amazing flavor anyways.”

John “Dey Dey” de Bruin left a career engineering satellites to raise cattle.

Around the fourth course, John “Dey Dey” de Bruin showed up fresh off a drive from his ranch in Lompoc, just ten miles shy of Heart & Trotter’s 250-mile limit.

“The context for my business and my life is real simple: it’s all about the food,” de Bruin said, grinning beneath his beige cowboy hat. “We as a society have lost track of what it means to have great food.”

A former engineer of satellite systems for the government, de Bruin now makes use of bio-mimicry and hydroponically grown barley to raise chickens, pigs, and cows as sustainably as possible.

“Beef is really great,” de Bruin shouted at one point, mirroring my internal monologue as I chased a tri-tip pot-sticker with strong, dark Belgian ale. “I love beef. Beef is awesome."

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Novo Brazil puts is kombucha to good use in cocktail

Carnival a Dama brings Brazilian culture to the menu
Next Article

Recalling a nighttime firefight in my Rolando condo complex

This was years ago, but I still freeze when I hear anything that sounds like gunfire
Butcher James Holtslag studied under L.A. butchery Lindy and Grundy.
Butcher James Holtslag studied under L.A. butchery Lindy and Grundy.
Place

Alchemy

1503 30th Street, San Diego

I didn’t know sheep had rectangular pupils. I guess I’d never gotten close enough to notice. But there they were, pleading up at me as I held the animal’s head and torso in place over a hole in the ground. Without ceremony, Asan slit its throat with a kitchen knife. We watched in silence as the sheep shuddered, little rectangles constricting in panic — life draining out of them and into the earth — then dilating into cold, vacant slots when the kicking stopped.

That was the first time I ever saw an animal slaughtered. I was 20 years old. I was also a vegetarian of about three years. Asan, a West African dance instructor from Senegal, laughed at me and my friends as we fumbled to help him skin the carcass and remove the organs. He had done it so many times that the movements came effortlessly. I felt like a fool.

Tri-tip and garlic pot-sticker
New York strip, gochujang, kimchi, marigolds

That night I ate the traditional sheep stew that Asan prepared for his son’s first birthday. It made sense. I felt like I’d earned it. Or more, that the sheep deserved it. Eating the animal gave its life closure — kept it connected, somehow.

Sponsored
Sponsored

After that I began selectively eating meat with increasing regularity. I recognized that my hesitation wasn’t with killing but with the largely mechanical slaughter that is typical of factory farms in America.

It was this very same uneasiness that led butcher James Holtslag and longtime friend Trey Nichols to start Heart & Trotter — a whole-animal butchery that aims to open shop in North Park this November.

“We’ve really come together with friends and family in San Diego through dinners and barbecues, and we kind of got fed up that we didn’t know where our meat was coming from,” Nichols recalled during their August debut at Alchemy in South Park.

“Somebody would ask, ‘Hey, where’s this cut from?’ and we would have no idea. We weren’t even sure if it was from one animal or not.”

In response, Holtslag embarked on a three-month apprenticeship at Lindy and Grundy. The Los Angeles local/sustainable butcher shop was the only of its kind in Southern California, until now.

“Whole animal means two things,” Nichols explained. “We are not going to buy another cow until that steer is all gone and sold. [It also means that] nothing is going to go to waste.”

To demonstrate, Holtslag butchered a beef hindquarter while servers distributed a six-course bovine-and-beer pairing orchestrated by Alchemy chef Ricardo Heredia and Societe Brewing Company.

“The key to whole-animal butchery is gravity,” said Holtslag. “You want to disconnect the muscle from the connective tissue. The more fat, the easier it is to disconnect. More fat means more flavor, but with grass-fed you already have amazing flavor anyways.”

John “Dey Dey” de Bruin left a career engineering satellites to raise cattle.

Around the fourth course, John “Dey Dey” de Bruin showed up fresh off a drive from his ranch in Lompoc, just ten miles shy of Heart & Trotter’s 250-mile limit.

“The context for my business and my life is real simple: it’s all about the food,” de Bruin said, grinning beneath his beige cowboy hat. “We as a society have lost track of what it means to have great food.”

A former engineer of satellite systems for the government, de Bruin now makes use of bio-mimicry and hydroponically grown barley to raise chickens, pigs, and cows as sustainably as possible.

“Beef is really great,” de Bruin shouted at one point, mirroring my internal monologue as I chased a tri-tip pot-sticker with strong, dark Belgian ale. “I love beef. Beef is awesome."

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Three poems by Oso Guardiola

Conversation in the Cathedral, Schism, Runoff
Next Article

Kaylee Daugherty, Pinback, Chorduroy, Moondaddy, and Mr. Tube & the Flying Objects

Solos, duos, and full bands in Mira Mesa, Del Mar, City Heights, Little Italy, East Village
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader