Red Apron Butchery: Union Market, Merrifield, coming soon to D Street

[Banco]

I recently hosted a big party and ordered about 5 pounds of charcuterie from Red Apron in Union Market. I had never tried their products before and had never even looked closely at them, either. I called them up and they sent me a list of their products, and I just ordered from it blind.

Everything was excellent. I ordered coppa, lomo, fennel/verbena salami, sopressa, mortadella prato, duck rillettes, wild boar paté and paté de campagne. A good friend who, I think, smears pork fat on his nipples in his private moments said the wild boar paté changed his life. Everything was made to a high standard and it was gratifying to see an American (and local!) producer turn out such beautiful examples of these classic European salumi.

Their service was also great. Rachel helped me with the list and got my order all ready at short notice, and everything was sliced thinly and carefully. The resulting charcuterie board that I was able to assemble was a big hit at my party.

This experience restored my gratitude for the charcuterie trend, which at restaurants can sometimes get a bit ridiculous.

[ktmoomau]

Great to know, their sandwiches are so good, I can only imagine that was a great board! I still haven't tried the meatball yet, it is on my list.

[Mark Dedrick]

The meatball sandwich is fantastic. And I've always had great luck with their charcuterie, and the other products from their meat case (in particular, on two different occasions, gigantic, dinosaur bone ribeye steaks which were one of the best things I've ever cooked). Harvey's, on the other side of Union Market, also has very good products, and a much larger variety of regular (non-cured/produced) meat.

[DrXmus]

I've been a few times now so I finally have something to say about Red Apron. The first visit was for charcuterie for a small get-together for four of us. I don't know shit from Shinola when it comes to charcuterie except to say I like eating it. The guy who helped me gave me four products to taste and I picked two of them. I told him I had no idea how much to order and he told me to leave guests wanting more so he suggested 1/8lb of each. Both were delicious and the amount was perfect for appetizers.

My next trip was for a sandwich to go. I got the Cubano and fries. The fries (fried in beef fat) were tasty and included sprigs of rosemary and cloves of roasted garlic. The salting was adequate, but I like my salt, so others may think the large flakes are perfect. The sandwich included a pineapple spread-y type thing that had quite a spicy bite to it. By the end of the sandwich, I thought it was overpowering. It wasn't bad by any stretch, but I won't be getting it again.

Last night SWMBO and I had sandwiches there for dinner. The fries were definitely underseasoned and were more greasy this time. They were mostly small pieces, so I think we got the end of the day's supply. I ate them all, mind you, but I've had better fries, too. I had the Porkstrami sandwich, which I would eat every day if I could. The firm roll held up to the pork jus and the sauerkraut and aoli were perfect for me to prevent an overly dry sandwich (it's a pet peeve). Mrs. DrXmus had the roasted turkey sandwich with "cranberry-apple mostarda". Opposite me, she's a condiment-hater but even she enjoyed the sandwich with the mostarda (compote?) and ricotta schmear.

The downside? Two sandwiches, fries and two beers=$38

I love having Red Apron so close. They have a great selection of beers, wines and vermouths, including some I haven't seen anywhere else close by (Byrrh, Cocchi Americano and another I can't think of). I think I'll be there a lot, although my bank account will take a hit.

[cjsadler]

My charcuterie consumption is up about 68% since this place opened. The prices are much, much better than when RA is/was at the farmer's markets (they were selling most of their cured meats for $80/lb if you added it up!). The cured products are fantastic and most go for either $16 or $25/lb. Only complaint is that the texture on most of the fresh sausages is not so great (I think J. Stachowski called them "too dense" in that Post article about RA a few weeks ago).

[Choirgirl21]

I "popped in" to Union Market this past weekend to grab some coffee at Peregrine on my way back from the 14th & U market. An hour later, I left with a bunch of stuff, including a pork skirt steak from Red Apron, along with some of their pork heart and ramp terrine and smoked jowl rillette. I grilled the skirt earlier this week and it was quite tasty, but I'm only now getting to the pates. YUM. Seriously, this stuff is unique and delicious.

[Pool Boy]

I forget the special cut of the pork (loin??) we got several months ago here.Brought it home and prepared it. Wow. Lunch there was delicious as well. As always, remember to go early or late - prime time gets crowded, noisy and annoying.

[Mark Dedrick]

As always, remember to go early or late - prime time gets crowded, noisy and annoying.

Agree. Everything I've gotten from them has been fantastic, and my only complaint is that they often have only one person serving the butcher counter, which means that you could be waiting a while for service, even if there are no other customers there.