If you drove by Esicar’s at 1157 North Kingshighway this week, you might have noticed a neon OPEN sign in the front window. No, Esicar’s isn’t coming back after a March 6, 2011, fire that put it out of business. There’s a new meat store in town: The Butcher Block held its grand opening October 26.
I’m going to mark Day One as a success. When I stopped by Friday afternoon, owner Peter Whisnant and manager Dawn Petersen were so busy waiting on customers that they barely had time to tell me their names. Their new sign was supposed to be up, but it looks like it’ll be the first of the next week before it’s installed. Mail orders will be accepted.You can place an order by calling 573-339-8757 until a website goes up in the next couple of weeks, Peter said.
Owner Peter Whisnant
A Missourian story on October 22 had the new owner’s name spelled with a P on the end instead of a T, but I’m almost positive that I heard T. In addition, I did a search of The Missourian’s archives and saw it spelled with a T in two other stories. I’m going to call The Missourian’s latest name spelling a typo unless I hear otherwise.
Peter, who owns Fruitland American Meat, decided that Esicar’s was the perfect place for a specialty meat market because of the location’s long association with country hams, bacon and sausage.
Kelley bakes the bread
In addition to selling Bunny Bread, the store carries Kelley Whisnant’s own special Mennonite / Italian bread. Right now, she’s baking about nine loaves of bread a day (while chasing Daughter Abbigail, 1).
“What happens if you become a success and you need 25 or 30 loaves a day,” I asked.
“I guess I’ll just have to get a bigger mixer,” she replied. “Maybe that’s what I’ll get for Mother’s Day.”
Earlier stories about Esicar’s
The Butcher Block photo gallery
Here’s a collection of photos taken in and around the store. Click on any photo to make it larger, then click on the left or right side of the image to mover through the gallery.
I stopped there today and bought several items. They were very helpful and had good suggestions. I bought their cooked kettle beef and real mashed potatoes for our dinner tonight and it was delicious. Very glad to have a meat market at that spot again.
It looks and sounds like I will have to pay them a visit next time I’m in Cape.
I’M TRYING TO PLACE A HAM ORDER WITH YOU! COULD YOU PLEASE SEND ME A CATALOG/PRICE LIST, & HOW TO ORDER?!
I can’t promise anyone from the store will see your request. You’d be safer to call them at 573-339-8757. Tell them you heard about them here.
John,
I tried to reply to your email, but your provider bounced my message:.
I can’t answer that question. Here’s the contact info off their website. It also contains their price list:
Butcher Block website.
Address
1157 N. Kingshighway
Cape Girardeau, MO 63701
Email
Butcher Block email
Phone
573-339-8757
Business Hours
Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Saturday: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
I’ll also copy this message to their email.
Butcher Block folks, here’s a message from one of my blog readers who posted a question on my 2012 blog post about your business.
DO YOU CARRY A MEAT PRODUCT SOLD BY ESICARS KNOWN AS HILLBILLY HAM
Debbie, I don’t have any connection to the Butcher Block, but here’s their website with a phone number.