Meat Haven Butcher & Larder Moving and Expanding to Massive Local Foods Facility

For the last four years, The Butcher & Larder, Rob Levitt's beloved artisan butcher and sandwich shop, has operated out of small storefront on Milwaukee Avenue in Noble Square. That will change this summer when it relocates to Local Foods' massive under-construction farmer's market and facility in Bucktown and expands in a major way.

The promised bigger and better Butcher & Larder will encompass 3,000-square-feet of the epic 27,000-square-foot multi-use local food emporium, where it will have a cafe, vastly increased distribution, and more classes and demonstrations. Levitt, who opened The Butcher & Larder in January 2011 with his wife Allie, is an acclaimed chef (Mado) who cut his chops in New York in addition to being perhaps the most-renowned butcher in Chicago.

Levitt's new and expanded shop will still have an "old-school butcher motif," according to a rep, in addition to a lunch counter with soups, cured meats, cheeses and sandwiches. The larger location and access to the Local Foods facility should also help Levitt increase the types of products it can sell to consumers and restaurants, most notably greatly elevating its whole animal service.

As previously announced, the upcoming Local Foods facility brings a huge year-round farmer's market, production and distribution facility to the Elston Corridor in Bucktown. Levitt's relationship with Local Foods partner Dave Rand, who owns the forthcoming brick-and-mortar facility of "Chicago's first wholesale distributor and retailer of strictly local foods from the Midwest's finest farmers" with Andrew Lutsey and Ryan Kimura, along with the increased space and production possibilities, are two of the reasons for the move.

Expect the move to complete in the summer, depending on permitting. Also expect Levitt to discuss the move in more detail soon.