New Butcher Shop Darke Pines Opening Downtown

Downtown Jersey City can expect to see a new butcher shop focused on local and sustainable products opening up early next year. 

Darke Pines, the joint venture of local couple Will and Erica Messmer, will be downtown's first and only quality meat supplier. They plan to work only with producers they know from small family farms throughout New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania who follow humane and sustainable practices. The shop will carry high-quality beef, pork, lamb, and poultry and in addition to the standard cuts and ground meat, they will have house-made sausages, charcuterie, and sandwiches. 

Will and Erica are launching a kickstarter on Sept. 19th to help raise awareness and funds for Darke Pines as they get ready to open. While they don't currently have a determined brick-and-mortar location, they're looking at a couple of options centrally located to downtown and anticipate having a physical address soon. Most recently, they've been busy meeting with farmers and getting to know potential future suppliers like Kinderhook Farm in Ghent, NY. According to Will, they're an example of exactly the kind of farm Darke Pines wants to work with,"The team there, led by Lee and Georgia Ranney, put a ton of thought and care into how their animals are raised, and that passion is really apparent in the quality of the meat."

When I asked Will why a butcher shop, he pointed to his background in marketing and business operations and Erica's background in food and hospitality as a reason for entering into the food business overall and went on to say, "It's tough to pinpoint the specific reason. My granddad [who was a butcher] definitely had an impact. But it was more his love of food, and less his background as a butcher, that influenced me. He really loved food, growing it, cooking it, and eating it.  Erica and I love food that way too, but we also love the business of food, the fast-paced energy, the hospitality, and the communal spirit a great restaurant or food market can bring to a neighborhood.

Why a butcher shop? I guess we found ourselves drawn to butcher shops aesthetically, to their roll-your-sleeves-up attitude toward food. Meat is sustenance in its most primal form, and when it’s done right, it’s better for the land, the animals, the farmers, and our health--all those things matter to us."

There are currently only two other butcher shops in Jersey City - Moloney's Meat Market near Journal Square which has been around for more than 140 years and Pampita Meat Shop, an Argentinian butcher shop which opened earlier this year on Central Ave.

As of now, Darke Pines is expecting to open in January 2018, but stay tuned for more details, updates, and news on the kickstarter and location. You can follow along with their progress on Facebook and Instagram.