Chantecler has a butcher shop of their own right next door. Meats are now broken down here (often from whole animals) for use in the restaurant and sale to the general public.

Incredible cuts aren’t all you’ll find here, though. The shop also employs an aging program, makes their own sausages, pickles, pates, terrines, charcuterie and sandwiches, and sells pantry staples like high-quality Murray’s Farm eggs, Emerald Grasslands butter and Cheese Boutique cheese.

It’s basically an all-in-one stop that’s more boutique than cafe, though there are a few chairs.

The trim from house dry aged Canadian beef gets ground into six-and-a-half-ounce burger patties ($2.25/100g).

King capon chickens are farmed using organic practices in Sharon, Ontario, and get broken down into boneless skinless breasts for $2.29/100g and legs for $1.75/100g.

House sausages come in rotating varieties like andouille ($3.25/100g) or a classic sweet Italian ($3/100g) made with pork, fennel, garlic and honey.

Pop in at the right time, and you might even catch staff stuffing casings by hand at the back, where most meat is butchered and prepared for sale or service.

A house 45-day dry aged porterhouse ($8/100g) is the piece de resistance of the case when I visit, obtained from Penokean Hills Farms in Ontario’s Algoma area. Beef specialists, all their cattle is naturally raised, hormone- and antibiotic-free and free range.

House bacon in maple ($4.18/100g) and Italian ($3.86/100g) varieties can be sliced to order, and is occasionally even available in a convenient packaged format.

House pantry items include pickles ($12.99) cut into thick wedges in spicy, pungent varieties like rye whiskey and IPA. 

There are also chili-garlic pickled beets ($8.99) and simpler staples like coarse sea salt and mustard, all meant to enhance or pair with the proteins you’re buying here in some way.

A chicken salad sandwich ($10) is made using whole roasted king capon chicken, a house dill mayo, red onion, and Footstep Organics tomatoes (also in stock), all presented on a crispy Blackbird baguette (again, available for purchase).

A muffuletta sandwich ($14) that stuffs Blackbird focaccia with salty, fatty, yet thinly sliced house smoked capicollo, soppressata, Genoa salami, mortadella that’s made in house at times, plus provolone, Swiss, Dijon, and their own giardiniera (again, available to purchase). 

Other items like pepperettes and salami may not always be made here, but they’re working towards a format where pretty much all meat products are produced in house.

The former nail salon employs a similar clean DIY aesthetic as Chantecler, all raw wood and cement brightened up by hexagonal tile and huge front windows.