Chef David Raines, whose reputation spans continents, has carved a place for himself in Madison County. The world class butcher and chef celebrated the peak of his culinary career earlier this month with the opening of The Flora Butcher.
The old fashioned neighborhood butcher shop is a small slice of heaven on Main Street in Flora. The Flora Butcher is known for its beef, which is harvested from cattle raised on family land in Louisiana. The farm belongs to Raines’ father. It specializes in Wagyu beef, known for its tenderness and marbling.
A vast number of products from craft beer to sauces are also available at the shop. Soon, customers will find prime cuts of beef, pork, chicken, ham, lamb, goat, rabbit, and duck. Many of these options are already in stock. Raines also plans to offer frozen seafood, including catfish, gulf shrimp, and crawfish tails.
“We sourced all of the Mississippi products we could possibly find,” Raines said. “We have honey from Philadelphia, Greenwood, and right here in Flora. We have a number of products made in Jackson. We have almost 30 varieties of beer, most of them from Mississippi.”
The vast majority of products, from sausage to blueberry jam, come from vendors along the state line, between Mississippi and Louisiana. Wagyu soap, made locally from Raines family cattle, is one such item.
The Flora Butcher will allow Raines to return to his roots. He will once again oversee livestock in the early stages, before it reaches the shop. However, Raines will not neglect the skills he learned as an international chef.
He and Chef Frank Szymanski, second in command, will prepare daily blue plate lunches, priced at $10.
“We are not a restaurant,” Raines explained. “We’re just a butcher shop that serves blue plates to go. We do it to be a part of the community. Everybody’s already gotten in the habit of coming in here, getting food, talking, and thinking about what they will have for dinner that night.”
The blue plates use premium ingredients and include a drink. The team prepares two options, which change daily. Already, they have served lasagna, pot roast, chicken and dumplings, and hamburger steak.
The facility boasts coolers, freezers, storage rooms, a kitchen, a smoker, and the requisite butcher shop front. Raines intends to use the smoker for additional services. He has considered preparing barbecue, bacon, smoked hams, and beef jerky for his customers, among other savory goods.
“We’re just going to see what people are interested in,” Raines said.
The chef got his start at Johnson and Wales University. He traveled to Japan, Italy, and Australia throughout his career. “My last trip was going to be to Denmark,” Raines said. “I went to Denmark to work at Noma, which had the number one chef at the time. It became the number one restaurant the following year.”
In Denmark, he met his wife. After a stint in Louisiana, the couple settled down in Mississippi.
Raines spent a year as chef de cuisine at Seafood R’evolution in Ridgeland before leaving to pursue his own vision. “Sometimes, it’s better to go do your own thing,” Raines said. “I decided I was going to get into a different kind of restaurant, a butcher shop themed restaurant.” The idea evolved into a traditional butcher shop, with a creative twist.
“My wife loves it here,” Raines said. “We have two little kids, a one-year-old son and a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter. I’m sure we’ll be here for quite a long time.”
