Park City welcomes its first full-service, modern-day butcher
Specializing in whole-animal butchery, Chop Shop offers rare and lesser-known cuts of meat
Summer/Fall 2021
Written By: Ted Scheffler | Images: Angela Howard
You could imagine a time during Park City’s mining heydays — long before places like The Market or Bill White Farms and Ranches were around — when there may have been a butcher shop or two that provided locals with their meat.
But one thing is certain: they would not have looked anything like Chop Shop Park City in the Newpark Town Center.
Chop Shop is Park City’s first full-service butcher shop and the vision of business partners Chuck Heath, Dan Ibach, and John Courtney, who perceived the need for a top-quality butcher shop that could provide services and products not found in local supermarkets. Specializing in whole-animal butchery, Chop Shop offers rare and lesser-known cuts of meat that you wouldn’t normally find at the grocery store, and gets their meat from purveyors who provide responsibly sourced, sustainable, and often organic products.
Step into Chop Shop and the first thing you’ll see is a refrigerated butcher case chock full of gorgeous cuts of meat ranging from lamb ribs, pork belly, and Korean-style short ribs to A5 Wagyu and dry-aged New York and tomahawk steaks. There is also a vast selection of imported and local cheeses as well as cured meats like bresaola, mortadella, pancetta, and prosciutto.
It probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that the idea behind Chop Shop began over charcuterie while the three partners were visiting a butcher shop in Northern California. Following that experience, they decided to open a European-style butcher shop and deli in the mountain town of Park City, which they had come to love.
The face of Chop Shop is John Courtney, an ex-banker who became a chef and has cooked at award-winning restaurants from France to Las Vegas. He’s worked at eateries such as DB Brasserie, Carson Kitchen, Hattie B’s, and 50 Eggs. And what could be more appropriate than the Chop Shop’s butcher sporting world-class mutton chops, which he does.
John and his partners pride themselves on personally knowing all their purveyors — including ranchers, farmers, and cheese-makers — calling these producers “the cornerstone of our business.” The team favors responsibly sourced, local products from companies like Ballerina Farm, Wasatch Wagyu, and Gold Creek Farms, among others.
In addition to being a butcher shop, Chop Shop operates a deli and café with a counter and a handful of stools. There’s an all-day breakfast that features made-in-house breakfast sausage, wood-fired eggs, cheddar cheese, and a house-made biscuit, and a menu that includes Alsatian-style tart flambée, Detroit-style pizzas cooked in the wood-fired pizza oven, and a butcher’s board of cured meats, local cheeses, charred bread, and pickles
Of particular note are the sensational sandwiches — the Firebird, a spicy chicken sandwich, and The Butler Dip, the Chop Shop’s absolutely fabulous take on a French dip made with dry-aged beef, caramelized onions, Swiss cheese, and house au jus on rustic country sourdough from Hawk & Sparrow bakery in Midway.
Part of Chop Shop’s appeal is its laidback and welcoming atmosphere. “We’ve been doing great,” says John, adding, “About 25 percent of our business has been return customers and locals have really taken a liking to us. The vision is to be a relaxed, inviting, neighborhood place.”
Chop Shop is the kind of butcher shop where there are no dumb questions. Don’t know your bavette and coulotte cuts from flat iron or flank? Well, John does, and he is more than happy to share his expertise.
Highlighting what is fresh and in season, Chop Shop is a carnivore’s heaven and, well, a really great place to meat.
