Butcher N’ Barbeque
1910 N. Ola AvenueSurprise! I was hungry for BBQ.
Our second full day in Tampa wasn’t quite as long as the first. We still worked over 14 hours but got to sleep in a little bit. By doing so, we missed the free breakfast at the hotel so both of us were pretty hungry when lunch time rolled around.
Co-worker had a few more responsibilities on this trip than I did so while he was doing his thing, I was looking up BBQ places for lunch. I didn’t ask him if he wanted BBQ. I just assumed everyone likes BBQ.
I picked Butcher N’ Barbeque on North Ola Avenue in the Ridgewood Park area of Tampa north of downtown along the Hillsborough River. The restaurant is part of the Heights Public Market which is described as “A food lovers dream.”
The Heights Public Market hosts several dining establishments under one roof. The 22,000 square foot “industrial market” gives you the option of high level pizza, BBQ, sushi, burgers, empanadas, and so much more. We found this place for the BBQ but did look around just to make sure there wasn’t something else that caught our attention.
It took few minutes but we found Butcher N’ BBQ on the north end of the market. The shop is set up fast food style with an order counter in front of the kitchen. The menu hangs next to the cashier on a vertical TV screen.
The menu is fairly common for BBQ joints. Meats are smoked in house and sauces are made from scratch. The beef used is Florida grass-fed beef from Steelbach Cattle from Kenansville, FL (which is a really interesting story on it’s own…read this article from the Tampa Bay Times on this herd.)
I put in an order for 12-Hour Smoked Grass-Fed Beef which could be either brisket or round bottom. The menu just says it’s the “Butcher’s selection” and you don’t know which you’re getting. I also put in an order for fries on the side. The meal set me back right around $20.
The Heights Public Market kind of looks like a mall food court but much more upscale. There are communal tables throughout the building. I had to give my phone number with the order and once it was done, I got a text telling me to come get it.
We were really running behind this day so we both grabbed our meals and headed to the remote work site. Once we got settled there, I opened up my box of beef to discover it came with fries…..so I got two large orders of fries with my meal.
Don’t get me wrong, I had no qualms with getting more fries than I needed because these were delicious fries. They were skin on and lightly salted. They’re the kind fries that have the crispy, kind of greasy exterior then the soft, pillowy insides. I had grabbed a couple of different sauces to dip them in because that’s how I like to eat fries at BBQ places but I could have totally eaten these without sauce if I wanted to.
I’m going to be honest on the beef. I don’t know if it was brisket or if it was the bottom round. It was tasty either way but a little on the dry the side. The meat had a great smokey, salty flavor with a pretty solid bark. It was fall apart tender too…it just didn’t have a lot of juice left in it. There were four large slices of beef in the to-go box and I greedily gobbled them up. I love the saltiness of brisket and these slices definitely had that.
The Heights Public Market is such a cool place and Butcher N’ Barbeque is a pretty delicious part of that. There wasn’t much about my meal that I didn’t like. The fries were fantastic. The beef was delicious. The sauces were sweet and spicy. Good BBQ always makes me happy and Butcher N’ Barbeque made me really happy.
SW Michigan Dining 