The Butcher's Block by Maxbauer — Local services in Garfield Township

I highly recommend going here.

I love going to meat markets. I've been to many around texas (home of the best bbq, meats, and flavor). The meats tend to be fresh. You learn a lot with interesting conversations from knowledgeable butchers about profession, tools, and meats.

Up here in Michigan, many of the foods & restaurants have been bland ok at best compared to southern cooking.

On to the review- WOW, as soon as we entered, we were impressed. It wasn't the typical bland butcher shop. It was a nicely setup store, with butcher shop in the back.

Seasoning: They had a wall full of almost every type of seasoning you could think of, also some cooking utensils & even some dog food bags for the puppers.

-Wine- I don't drink, but they had a good amount of wines to pare with any kind of meats or meals.

Meats- WOW, the flavor, price, and selection of meats. Sorry Texas meat got bumped to second place, I mean this honestly, the meats were amazing the bacon, steaks, the roasts, kabobs, the turkey legs, sausage, etc... everything we ate seemed like it was better than the last thing we ate. We were highly impressed.

Extras - They had some veggies great for grilling, sauerkraut, amazing soups (chicken or turkey? Soup was our favorite) I think some sodas and chips, a few others.

Employees-

Everyone we talked to was friendly, very knowledgeable about both butchering as well as food prep and suggestions.

We, by chance, met the owner. He is truly an amazing guy. He is so friendly, the first time talking with him it was like we were old friends. He is very knowledgeable and very compassionate about both his store as well as...

Stopped in for some cherry jalapeno brats. I seen a billboard and heard an ad about them on the radio. When I got there the place was busy and they only have a few parking spaces which were difficult to access because they park their cube truck in the small parking lot which led to a precarious parking situation.

I went inside and went straight to the brat section. Was disappointed the cherry jalapeno brats weren't there. I went on a scavenger hunt around the store to find them... Jackpot! I wanted some bakery style buns, which they had which saved me a trip to the grocery store.

I went to check out. Only one person in line, but they were buying a lot of stuff. I'm an impatient person, so was very happy when I spotted two self-checkouts. The first one I went to was out of order. The second was operational and worked perfectly. The cashier told me to have a nice day on my way out the door.

Price was $10 for 4 brats so about 25% more expensive than a grocery store. I felt this was fair because they have more overhead per item than a big store.

The photo I posted was a midnight snack. I used Kewpie mayo, some honey mustard, and onion rings. Honestly was the best brat I ever had. I was worried it would be really spicy. Nope, was pretty mild... Which to me was perfect. Loved it. Will...

This is the best butcher in Northern Michigan by a long shot. When you're at Costco in Traverse City, don't buy your meat there (you might save a couple bucks, but the quality is far superior here).

Mark is an awesome dude and really takes pride in his product.

I just did a bone in ribeye for my birthday dinner and it was better than any steak I've ever had at a restaurant. That baby was 2 1/2 inches thick. I smoked it for an hour and then put it on the grill for the final char. Just salt and pepper on that bad boy.

I wish I had called him ahead of time to get a cut of the Dry Aged Beef he has going (which you can't find anywhere else up here).

Alot of the cuts are ranked USDA Prime or BETTER, which you don't see anywhere else.

He set me up with a pack of Dry Aged Burgers from Dry Aged Cuts and I can't wait to cook them up!!!

This is your place. Just don't make it too busy that the locals can't get in. I think he might need a bigger shop and...