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What we're
all aboutThere are those who
eat to live. And then there are those who live to eat. The Healthy
Butcher caters to the latter. Whether you are buying fresh organic meat to
be used in your own food creation or buying our gourmet prepared foods to be
eaten by candlelight accompanied by a nice glass of wine, we ensure that what
you’re eating instigates within you a passion for food and most importantly, has
been produced the way nature intended.
OUR MISSION STATEMENT:
To ensure your food is produced the way nature intended.
Organic food is not a novelty… it was
the past and will be the future. Eating fruits, vegetables, grains, or
meats grown with pesticides, herbicides, growth hormones, antibiotics, and other
un-natural chemicals is ludicrous and unsustainable.
Do you remember the days when you could
walk into your local butcher shop to buy fresh meat grown
locally by a farmer who cared about his animals? When the cows would
graze in large pastures? When the chickens had access to both indoors & outdoors
and had time to sleep? And when growth was determined by the animals
eating habits, not growth hormones and anti-biotics. For most of us,
unfortunately, the answer is no. Industrialization over the last few
decades has brought us to this day of antibiotic stuffed, water injected,
assembly-line cut, pre-packaged meat.
The Healthy Butcher aims to restore an
area of the food industry that has wrongly disappeared. We are your
good 'ole fashion butcher.
We invite you to read about
Organics, Nutrition,
our favourite Recipes and hope to see you in our
store.
....
The following is a little about some
of the key people that make up The Healthy Butcher:
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Mario Fiorucci and Tara Longo,
Co-Presidents
Lawyer and Investment Banker turned
Butchers.
Former Lawyer and Investment Banker,
Mario and Tara left their large Bay Street Firms to do the unimaginable – open
an organic butcher shop. The Healthy Butcher was born out of their frustration
of the difficulty finding good quality, fresh organic meat in Toronto and the
difficulty of finding good quality prepared foods to eat in the comfort of their
own home when their work schedules didn’t allow for enough time to spend
cooking.
So, they used their business savvy to
negotiate a deal with long-time owner and furniture store operator Sol
Borenstein to buy 565 Queen St West. in the heart of The Fashion District. After
restoring the building to its original 1890 beauty, their goal is to provide
downtown Toronto residents with a place they can trust to sell only the best
organic meats and gourmet prepared foods that will bring a passion for food to
their patrons’ dinner tables.
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Ryan Donovan, Head Butcher
A graduate of Stratford Chefs School, Ryan brings a passion to butchery rarely
seen. After chef apprenticing at La Palette and Czehoski, Ryan moved to The
Healthy Butcher to expand his knowledge of meat and farming. Within a short time
period, Ryan had found his calling in one of the oldest trades known to
humankind and demonstrates innate knife skills that are a marvel to watch. His
goal is to bring farmers and consumers closer together by educating customers as
to the costs, time, efforts and complexities of organic farming. “We can’t all
eat salmon, chicken breasts and tenderloin,” as he says when discussing today’s
state of common factory farming. Ryan makes regular visits to The Healthy
Butcher’s farmers learning more with each visit and conveying that knowledge to
our customers. “I would like to make every customer’s visit to The Healthy
Butcher a gastronomic experience where food and thought of food are equally as
nourishing.” Looking to Fergus Henderson, Paul Bertolli, Jamie Kennedy and
Michael Stadtlander for inspiration, Ryan pushes our customers to be
adventurous, patient and well informed in their culinary decisions.
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Jonathan Abrahams, Head Chef
Trained in England, Spain,
Israel, and Egypt, Jonathan brings a worldly flair to The Healthy Butcher’s
Express Gourmet prepared foods. After cooking at several Queen West
restaurants, Jonathan feels at home in the kitchen of The Healthy Butcher. “More
than anything, I like that I’m preparing honest products, using only the best
organic ingredients and never trying to pull anything over our customers,” says
Jonathan about working with local, organic & seasonal ingredients. Jonathan has
found a passion for experimentation, and loves the freedom to whip up any dish
on zero notice. “In restaurants, menus are created to last long periods of time
and once written it’s the same thing over and over until the next menu is
created; here, whatever is seasonal comes into the door as soon as its ripe with
little notice – at that point, it’s ‘these are for you Jon, do whatever’ and I
have to whip something up.” Jonathan loves the open dialogue with customers
coming into the store and wanting to learn how to cook something for the first
time. “To me, gourmet and organics are one in the same,” says Jonathan, “they
are about using the best ingredients and letting those ingredients shine with
minimal effort.”
Mario Fiorucci & Tara Longo receiving the building keys from Sol Borenstein,
long-time owner of this Queen St. shop

Before and after photos of the storefront at 565 Queen St. West.
The
original wooden pillars and colours were restored and a knotty pine sign
backboard was installed bringing the storefront to one typical of an early
1900's Queen St. store.


Compare the new Healthy Butcher store with this
picture of an 1800's pork butcher...

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