Whole-animal butchery seen as latest piece of emerging Ferndale food district

Matts working hard to make sure there’s plenty of sausage for this Sunday’s Warren Farmers Market #eatlocal #michigan #farmersmarket #? #pork #earlyrisers #sundayfunday #bethere

A photo posted by FarmFieldTable (@farmfieldtable) on Sep 16, 2016 at 3:12pm PDT

Is a light industrial neighborhood of squat, mid-century buildings in Ferndale giving rise to a grassroots culinary scene?

Eater Detroit reports that the chef behind The Mulefoot, a farm-to-table gastropub in Imlay City (!), plans to open a whole-animal butcher shop on Woodward Heights in an area that’s seeing sudden interest from food and beer entrepreneurs.

Called Farm Field Table, the butchery would offer local, humanely raised meat and specialty cuts free of hormones or antibiotics to walk-in customers and restaurants that lack the ability to butcher whole animals. The 9,800 square-foot space would also serve as training space for restaurant kitchen staff.

The building that will house Farm Field Table, at 1030 Woodward Heights. | Photo via loopnet

From Eater (emphasis mine):

(Matt) Romine says he was encouraged to develop the Farm Field Table in the relatively industrial northeast Ferndale neighborhood after learning about small culinary community developing there. Forthcoming Urbanrest Brewing Company is located next door to the Farm Field’s shop and, according to the 8 Wood Blog(hey!), Anita’s Kitchen’s owners are in the process of developing a mixed-use building that includes an expanded restaurant business.

The chef plans to initially open the small counter to the public and focus on developing restaurant accounts, and eventually hopes to expand the shop’s charcuterie business depending on licensing. Romine says that right now the buildout is complete but the space is still undergoing inspections, which could take several weeks. He anticipates Farm Field Table opening by mid-November.

The Anita’s Kitchen project, involving the construction of a new two-story, mixed-use building at 1201 Woodward Heights, seems to be moving slowly. I previously wrote about Urbanrest Brewing, which plans to brew Belgian-style farmhouse ales using locally grown hops, as part of a roundup I did on businesses opening in Ferndale.

Farm Field Table will be located at 1030 Woodward Heights, at the edge of a district of machine shops, warehouses and light manufacturing facilities.