So I walk into The Butcher Shop Beer Garden & Grill and I look around. People are drinking beer, sitting around communal wooden tables, sunlight peeks through the flowery canopy, there’s a nice breeze blowing through, music fills the air… if I didn’t know any better I’d think I was at a beer garden in Germany but I’m not. This is Miami’s Wynwood section and The Butcher Shop is the place to be for a brew and some beef but no attitude.
Father son team Igor and Fred Niznik are the power pair behind The Butcher Shop’s success. It’s an offshoot of their family owned Palm Beach butcher shop where they get all the meats for the Wynwood restaurant. I started with, what else, a buttery/salty German pretzel. Talk about dee-lish ($7) it came with a cheese bechamel side sauce for dipping — so rich it I wanted to swim in it. In keeping with the whole German beer garden theme they serve pierogies ($7) at the Butcher Shop as well. Little potato and cheese dumpling goodies smothered in a sour creme sauce. Off the butcher block I tried the lamb burger with feta cheese ($15), the signature mix burger, made up of half prime brisket and half prime sirloin ($15), and the lamb and feta sausage ($13) served on a pretzel stick (yes, more pretzel, yay!) If you order something you like off the menu most of the cuts, burgers and sausages are available for purchase at the butcher counter in the back of the restaurant. Eat it today. Grill it yourself tomorrow. And wash it all down with a nice cold beer of course. After all when in “German Wynwood”…
Belkys’ Best Bite: German Pretzel
The Butcher Shop Restaurant & Beer Garden
165 NW 23rd St.
Miami, FL 33127
(305) 846-9120
www.thebutchershopmiami.com