Porterhouse Will Make You a Kitchen God

Porterhouse follows a retail model that hearkens back to the days of the neighborhood butcher shop – with one singularly modern difference: besides offering carefully selected cuts of meat and seafood, Porterhouse offers an array of complimentary food products – from regional wines to condiments and desserts – designed to heighten the experience of a great meat or seafood dish.

There comes a time in every relationship when a man must face the hard truth that raw virility, lavish gifts, and romantic getaways may no longer fuel the fires of passion he once kindled in the object of his affection.

I speak from experience when it comes to this epiphany. But I also know what it means to be a Kitchen God. Imagine the look of rapture on my wife’s face not long ago when she came home to find, arrayed upon a carefully set table, the following repast: pan seared sea scallops with a drizzle of lemon, garlic and butter (served on a bed of seaweed salad), a perfectly grilled filet mignon slathered in a blueberry chutney, and steamed, fresh asparagus. Complimenting this vision was a luscious Syrah from Cinder Wines, capped with a chocolate confection that defies even my legendary powers of description. Go ahead, mere mortals, just try making a similar impression with a dozen long stem red roses.

Sure…I know what you’re thinking. “Easy for you to pull off a culinary hat trick, Mike – you’re like a trained chef or something.” But therein lays the secret I will now share with you: I’m just an average schmuck when it comes to cooking. Fortunately, however, I had a secret weapon behind the meal I pulled off in just under an hour: Dave Faulk and Porterhouse.

Dave is a man who, from long experience, knows his way around a prime cut of meat – an experience going back to a part time job he held at a local packinghouse while attending Boise State University.

Porterhouse follows a retail model that hearkens back to the days of the neighborhood butcher shop – with one singularly modern difference: besides offering carefully selected cuts of meat and seafood, Porterhouse offers an array of complimentary food products – from regional wines to condiments and desserts – designed to heighten the experience of a great meat or seafood dish.

“While meat has always been our focus,” Dave explains, “we’re not a meat market per se, or a deli…or a seafood market; we’re just a small-scale specialty market with a focus on the upper end of choice cuts. We work with people one-on-one, not just to educate them on cuts of meat, but more importantly on what to do with them, and with the broad set of culinary options they have in preparing a really amazing meal.”

Dave is a man who, from long experience, knows his way around a prime cut of meat – an experience going back to a part time job he held at a local packinghouse while attending Boise State University. Far from wanting to become a butcher, Dave entertained some wooly notions about pursuing a degree in computer science – a lukewarm ambition that was interrupted when he took some time off of his studies to work as a commercial fisherman out of Kodiak Island, Alaska.

At the tender age of 25, Dave was back in Boise, sinking the earnings from his life in the frozen north into his own custom meat processing business. To his surprise, he began getting phone calls from people who simply wanted to know where they could find “good meat”. While conventional wisdom might have suggested that the local supermarket would be a good place to start their search, Dave realized that what discriminating consumers were really hungering for was the bygone days of the neighborhood butcher shop.

More than anything, the Porterhouse functions as a retail venue designed to reconnect people with the prerogatives that are theirs as occupiers of the uppermost rung of the food chain.

“The local butcher shop is a thing of the past, and our generation has lost that connection,” bemoans Dave. “Most chain supermarkets don’t really know what they are selling; they’re just bringing in meats that they aren’t cutting or grinding themselves. They’re just another commodity. People have been forced to walk up and down the grocery aisle and pick up something wrapped in plastic, based on price point, without really knowing what to do with it.”

Believing he could change this sorry state of affairs, Dave established Porterhouse in 2000, originally locating it on Chinden and Eagle at the City Market shopping center. The experience of walking into the present incarnation of Porterhouse is a bit like entering a theme park for carnivores. The store showcases beautiful cuts of meat and fresh choices of seafood ranging from seasonal standards such as halibut and salmon to sushi-grade Ahi tuna.

Dave also stocks an array of deli items designed to compliment the meat and seafood dishes its customers choose, and a selection of desserts that will leave you almost bilious. Displayed throughout the store are fine oils, dressings, condiments, bakery items, and gourmet delights like the blueberry ketchup I used on the filet mignon I prepared for my wife. The Porterhouse wine selection focuses on smaller, Northwest wineries, including offerings from our own Snake River AVA.

More than anything, the Porterhouse functions as a retail venue designed to reconnect people with the prerogatives that are theirs as occupiers of the uppermost rung of the food chain. “We’ve lost a lot of our cooking skills as people buy more pre-packaged, pre-made foods,” Dave notes. “As someone who loves to interact with people, there is a lot of satisfaction when a customer comes back the day after they’ve shopped here to tell us about how great their dinner was. It’s gratifying to know how much faith they place in us.”

Perhaps the best way to appreciate that faith is to simply walk into Porterhouse, walk up to Dave Faulk, and ask the question that will change your love life forever. “What can I do tonight to be a Kitchen God?”

To listen to Dave Faulk’s response to my “Kitchen God” question, as well as his first-hand account of the Porterhouse story, click here for a Behind the Menu companion podcast. As always, listening while hungry is not advised, unless you’re willing to hop into your car and head over to Eagle and State.

Porterhouse Market is located at 600 S. Riverside Lane in Eagle, Idaho
Ph: 938-1441

www.PorterhouseMarket.com