The Butcher Block at 1157 North Kingshighway looked awfully dark when I passed it the other day, so I scoped it out on June 25.
The business was housed in the building that used to be Esicar’s, a meat-selling landmark that opened in 1934. It became The Butcher Block in 2012 after a fire and several changes in ownership caused Esicar’s to close for good.
Yep, dark and empty
The Butcher Block Facebook posted a notice on June 6 that “the doors are closed and the shelves are empty. Thank you all for your patronage.”
A reader who asked if “Anybody know why it closed?” got this answer: “Tired of trying to find a real butcher. And with living 2 hours away. And having several irons in the fire. Something needed to give. Sorry cape lost the only meat shop it had. But family always needs to come first. Thanks for your business though.”
I always thought that was a neat-looking building, one worthy of reproducing as a model. I need to get some good pictures of it from all sides; something that I just hadn’t done before now. Ken, I fully understand about your photos capturing time.
You may want to connect chan’s. They are now the new owner. They may key you get in and take pictures. I would hate for all the history to disappear. The building even has an elavator. Along with the old smoke room.
The best smoked bacon in the world once came from Esicars. We would take it back to St. Louis every time we visited Cape. I would love to again taste it if anyone knows of a current mail source for that bacon.
My parents and I used to go to Florida on vacation in the 1950’s. Before every trip we loaded up on pepperoni and summer sausage for the cooler before leaving. The Esicar family were frequent customers at Wayne’s Grill.
Where ever we lived over the years, a trip back to Cape meant a trip to Esicar’s for bacon. As a young 10 year old, I remember the adventure of walking through the “big” woods to get a dollars worth of Esicar’s baloney. That is what it was called back then, but it more closely resembled summer sausage. At some unfortunate point, according to Uncle Edro, the FDA “tightened” up the regulations on what could legitimately be called bologna and the name was changed to Esicar’s wurst. Same great stuff. Going into Esicar’s with its aromas of smoked meats and seeing Grandpa, Richard, Uncle Edro, and then Blake, Scott, and sometimes Jan is an all time great memory for me. When I get my time machine, it will be one of my first stops!