Chef April Bloomfield Expands Empire With a Butcher Shop

In September, Michelin-starred chef April Bloomfield and restaurateur Ken Friedman — the duo behind Salvation Burger, The Spotted Pig, and The Breslin, among others — will debut their latest project: a whole-animal butcher shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. According to the Wall Street Journal, White Gold will feature “homemade pâtés and sausages, organ meats, bone broth and various cuts of steak, as well as roasted whole heritage hog on special occasions.”

Bloomfield, who starred on season two of PBS television series The Mind of a Chef, has staked her reputation on meaty offerings, such as the famed ro quefort-topped burger at The Spotted Pig.

White Gold will double as a diner with a focus on nose-to-tail dining (i.e. using every part of an animal). According to Grub Street, the restaurant will serve three meals a day and feature items like banh mi, hot dogs, and rotisserie chicken.

Butcher shops have proved a trendy side project for big-name chefs these days: Curtis Stone’s new Los Angeles eatery Gwen features an in-house butcher shop that supplies the kitchen and sells to the public seven days a week. In Washington, D.C. Nathan Anda’s Red Apron Butcher has grown from a small-scale butchery in the back of a restaurant to three brick and mortar locations (as well as three restaurants).

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bloomfield has dreams of another, even larger, endeavor: opening a farm in upstate New York, telling WSJ, “I just wanted to have more control of my product from start to finish.”

She and London chef Tom Adams launched a farm/guesthouse/food workshop project in Cornwall, England, earlier this year, with a communal dining room where the menu changes to reflect the farm’s daily offerings. According to WSJ, “she hopes to open a similar guesthouse on a farm in upstate New York someday.”

Those aren't Bloomfield’s only current projects, though. She and Friedman recently announced plans to open a four-floor bar and restaurant in the Financial District, though that has since been nixed. They will reopen Salvation Burger in Midtown East later this year, though, and Bloomfield is also working on her third cookbook, which will reportedly focus on fish.

• Chef April Bloomfield’s Animal Ambition [WSJ]

• Rumor: Friedman & Bloomfield Are Eyeing UWS Space for Butcher/Diner [Eater NY]

• All April Bloomfield Coverage [E]