Society Fair

Fair Warning

A Butchery That’s Also a Wine Bar

None 3 Photos Society Fair
Butcher shops are among your favorite places. The meat, the expert service, the meat.

Yet they’re deficient in a number of ways: 1) You can’t sit down with a cocktail while short ribs are cut to your specs. 2) You can’t return the next morning for a cappuccino.

You probably sense where this is going: to a place like Society Fair, opening later this month in Old Town, by the folks behind Restaurant Eve and Virtue Feed & Grain.

Think of this as your average, everyday bar/butchery/coffee shop/gourmet market/wine shop/demo kitchen. (No, they won’t wash your car. We asked.)

Despite the array of meats and cheeses ahead of you, force yourself to turn left, into the art deco–style wine bar. There, you can nosh on cheese, olives and housemade blood sausage while you try to pick from 25 wines by the glass (including champagnes and burgundies) and wine cocktails. Five nights a week, you can also sit at the bar for chef demonstrations with three-course dinners.

By now, you’ll be inspired. Which means time to head back into the market and go crazy on fresh bread, bar goodies like housemade dirty martini mix, and the exotic butcher shop, where you can pick up antelope, wild boar and wild Scottish meats like partridge and hare.

A key ingredient in your famous wild partridge surprise.

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