Once the evenings get long, the light sticks around offering a little extra time and the trees and rivers become verdant and green, we start getting excited for all the summer season holds. It seems that everyone in Saxapahaw feels that way because the events and fun start piling up. Whether it's a community garden fundraiser, a barn dance or a visit to town for Saturday's In Sax, there is a distinct feeling to this little place in the summer. We're 30 minutes from Chapel Hill and a bit longer from Durham but it can feel like you've just hopped off a plane for some well-earned vacation. All of us at the shop like it so much that we just decided to stay.

Saturday's In Saxapahaw kicks off on May 3rd with the Haw River Festival. There will be bands, information on preserving and protecting our big, beautiful river and plenty of food. There are also puppets. Running 18 weeks, this annual tradition is about the most fun you can have for zero dollars. If you don't spend much time in Saxapahaw, this is a great opportunity to bring a lawn chair, grab some food and drink and hear excellent music. Left Bank will be there every week with a new summer sandwich menu. We're pretty excited about it.

If you need to move your hips a little earlier, Eliza at Cane Creek Farm will be hosting a barn dance on April 19th. Many of you have been to a square dance at Eliza's and know it's a quintessential experience of rural fun. Our dear friend and finest customer, Miles, will be bringing his band Big Fat Gap to keep the time and Roci will be there offering all sorts of excellent homemade food. Come to eat, dance, socialize, gawk, whatever.

Finally, with Easter coming up next weekend, we will be bringing in two lamb and have plenty of hams available. If you would like something particular, please put in an order in advance since things will move quickly. We also appreciate the ability to cut exactly what you want and hand it off when you arrive. The order form has so many excellent things, spend some time and see what looks interesting. Look forward to seeing you all soon!

Weekly Order Form

We're pretty grateful for this slow-rolling, beautiful spring we're having before the heat of summer sets in. A lot of us at the shop have spent much of our work life in jobs outside. Working indoors can leave us a bit starved for long warm days outside. Fortunately for us, we have massive original mill windows that let all the long light in. When you come in the shop, we hope you can feel all of that light and find this about as pretty a butcher shop as you could hope for.

If you are feeling like stocking up a bit with whatever the world may be bringing, we have a new box offering on the order form that could probably fit perfectly in your freezer. We are only a few weeks away from the kickoff of Saturday's in Sax the first weekend of May. We will be offering a new menu this year that should have something for everyone. We will also be at Mayfest at Thistledown Farm on Saturday, April 26th. This is a great event to come out and see local vendors, have some food and listen to music. There are lots of great shows at the Haw River Ballroom coming up as well, so bring a cooler then go see a show! 

Weekly Order Form

It's not as if we are cranking hot plates off the line until 10 p.m. but still, it feels a little draining when we flip the sign at six and walk out into a cold dark evening. Even having a half hour of light at the end of a long day buoys the spirit. Even better, this time of year means the days are just getting longer and longer. I'm personally eating lots of steak to get into my summer body. Some sausage here and there for balance.

Maybe this week you'd like to try something new on the grill. We have a lamb, so maybe a shoulder steak or blade chop. Have you ever cooked a merlot steak - they pair well with a simply dressed green salad. If you are reading this, you have almost certainly had a pork chop from the shop, but have you ever had a porchetta chop? You should let us prep one for you.

We hope you're welcoming the spring-like weather with some time in the sun. Even in North Carolina, the winter can kind of jump in your bones. Let's all enjoy the changing season. Take care of yourselves!

Haw River Producers CSA

Weekly Order Form

If you need some pork trotters and tails to make a classic Japanese tonkatsu ramen broth, we would be the shop for you! This week one of our customers needed just that, and we were happy to help. As an added bonus, Annie dropped some off for us after it was done, and it was absolutely fantastic. With some soft-boiled soy eggs and braised pork belly, we were satiated into a Tuesday night coma. If you have any requests for things outside the norm, let us know and we will do our best to make it happen.

We will have an Ossabaw hog from Cane Creek Farm again this week. If you love it or have always wanted to try it, this is your chance. Dark, rich meat and fat that liquefies into the perfect cooking medium; they are such a treat.

Once again, if you have thought about joining a CSA and haven't found one that works, we would encourage you to check out the Haw River Producers CSA which offers pick-up at our shop. Some of us in the shop are members, and between the whole working-in-a-butcher-shop thing and having veggies delivered, we eat pretty well.

Have a fantastic week!

Weekly Order Form

I've lived in NC for 40 years. Through the expectancy of a school snow day, the hope that I don't have to go into the office and now the fear that the power goes down, and we have to crank the generators to keep the walk-in and freezers running, I've learned to never count on snow until it's on the ground. With that said, the stars appear to be aligning for some snow this week. I love a good snow, and it helps that Saxapahaw looks magical with some fresh powder on the ground. It's also pretty convenient that I live close enough to use the shop as my personal refrigerator. However, if you don't live within walking distance or possess a key to the shop, we will be here to help you out. 

We are waiting on the forecast to see what's actually lining up but if it looks like Wednesday is going to be snowed out, we will likely open on Tuesday to help you prepare. We will be here on Tuesday either way if you are feeling like you need some supplies. While we don't officially open on Tuesdays, we are always running production if you need some frozen goods or fresh cuts we may have. We will make an announcement via social media if our hours change.

Also, if you have considered signing up for a CSA, we will be a drop-off point for the Haw River Producers CSA again starting this spring. With more quantity and payment options this spring, the farms have made it easier than ever to participate. I have been a member for every CSA season thus far, and I can say that it is the BEST CSA I have ever been involved with. Beautiful and bountiful vegetables and an excellent value. It also feels great to keep your money in your own community. Click here for details and sign up.

Stay safe, warm and well fed.

Weekly Order Form

Writing a newsletter is easy. Coming up with a title for said newsletter, not so much. If they would hire me the marketing team I've asked for, you could really expect some hard hitting email subject lines. It seems the trend is just to buy more meat, so let's all watch the steady declination of subject line creativity and remember why we're really here.

We have enjoyed having a little slower pace this week and have gotten caught up on some long-planned projects. We've been thinking through the possibility of some different sandwiches this coming spring and are trying to figure out how to make that work for everyone. The butcher club continues to be a tremendous hit and we are always happy to to see those of you who have been around for a while and the new members each month. If you have been interested in joining, here’s the link for more info.

Hope to see you in town this week and that all is well wherever you may be!

Weekly Order Form

As a small business, we know how important it is that our customers spread the word about Left Bank. Over the last 10 years, our reputation has grown based largely on all of you telling others about the experience you have when you come to see us. In that vein, it's always a a pleasure to tell you about other small businesses we love…

Last night, I was asked by my friends at Lubbers and Sons Tree Care to come over and cook some meat for their employee party. I first met Tommy and Sosha when we needed some trees felled (namely some dead pines and beetle-infested ash). They like meat, and I had tree questions, and so a really lovely relationship was born! Fortunately for all of us, this week we had beautiful ribeyes, strips and pork chops, and we cooked a feast. It wasn't catering, it was just cooking for friends. All that said, if you find yourself in need of some tree work, I couldn't recommend Lubbers and Sons more highly.

After thinking about ham and bean soup for a couple of months, this week we made ham and bean soup. It's delicious, come get a quart. Hot dogs have also made their return! Enjoy your week and some warmth.

Weekly Order Form

Good afternoon! Just a very quick hello and reminder to get in your orders for the week ahead. The bitter cold has everyone cooking slow and our case has shown it. Chuck roast, shanks and picnic shoulders have been in short supply. We will also be getting an Ossabaw hog this week if you have been waiting for some fat chops. Whatever you are cooking this week, as long as it's meat, we've got you covered. Thanks for making it out here to us and keeping us busy!

Weekly Order Form

It's been a busy week here in Saxapahaw. School is back in after the winter break, so mornings and afternoons are wild. It's always a lot of fun to see kids reactions when we are hauling in whole pigs and beef. Some part of me thinks that seeing that will forever give kids the correct impression of what a butcher shop should be. Some of the kids are aghast but there are always those who want to follow us in and see what its all about. Maybe we should start handing out applications.

This week saw two sold out shows in the village. I always imagine it's a real trip when a band who has been playing big cities pulls into this little rural anomaly. I hope it’s refreshing. Did you know that we nearly always provide some charcuterie for the bands? If you see a show at the ballroom, there's a good chance that guitar solo was powered by hoards of salami and kielbasa (which is admittedly a weird way to think). In the past, January has been a very slow time of year for us. That's not really the case anymore and we have been so fortunate to have customers who make the trip for good meat 12 months out of the year.

We are batting around some ideas for new products and some exciting possibilities. The shop is humming with tons of animals, great staff and a generally excellent vibe. Come, share the vibe, buy the meats, don't get left out.

Weekly Order Form

I live in really small house. Not like a tiny house because I am an enormous person, but a small house. With a couple of kids, lots to do and no real desire at the end of a week to cook anything elaborate, I revel when winter arrives, and I can just slip something in the oven for the day. It feels really natural to have some meat slowly melting away while the oven warms your home. With a small house, an oven working away will heat things enough to nearly run you out. I've 100% eaten braised beef shanks in January in a tank top.

Well that was folksy. I'm writing this on Thursday, so maybe when you get this it's snowed. If so, we hope it was beautiful and brought some slowness. If it didn't, it will maybe snow again at some point - maybe. Thanks for all the orders this week preparing for whatever the weather ended up like!  

Weekly Order Form

2025 marks our tenth year in business, and we're feeling good about things! We had a very busy year last year and met lots of new customers finding us for the first time. We also got to see so many of you who have been with us since the beginning. In 2025, we have nothing but big dreams for the shop. More beautiful animals, more creative things in the case and more cultivating a really nice place to work. 

The butcher boxes have helped keep us creative and maybe some of those special items we have included will make it into our normal rotation (i.e. chili Verde and tamales). If there are things you have always hoped we'd make but we haven't taken the hint, just let us know. We are always pleased to find new things!

Honestly though, we hope this year brings you great happiness, success and many great meals. Good health to you and your family and the continued joy of getting to congress with you at the shop. See you around town here soon.

Weekly Order Form

We are rearranging our walk-in to prepare for the hundreds of turkeys that will arrive in about a week. If you have an order, we will have you all ready to go. In addition, we are bringing in plenty of pork and beef to be well stocked for whatever you may need in the days before and after (or on Thanksgiving if Turkey isn't your thing).

As someone who is always tasked with bringing a charcuterie board, I know the necessity of some pre-dinner vittles. We will have plenty of options to keep the hoards at bay while the the turkey is finishing up. Country Pate, braunschweiger, plus some ham and salami can really quell the appetite when everyone arrives. Also plenty of stock and seasoning meats are available to turn that bird into a resplendent post-celebration soup.

Of note: for anything that isn't turkey related, please put in an order through our standard weekly order form to coincide with your pick-up day. That form will have all of the standard butcher shop fare that you may need.

If you want to assure that we have what you need for your gathering, please put in an order. It really helps assure that we get everyone taken care of with exactly what they would like. The order form has dates all the way through our holiday closing on Wednesday, November 27th at 3 p.m. We will see you soon!

Weekly Order Form

Charcuterie plate for an event at the Haw River Ballroom.

The holidays always sneak up on us, even though we started planning for Thanksgiving in August. Such is the case when you bring in whole animals and farmers have to get things rolling long before we need anything. We ordered as many turkeys as we ever have and they have moved quite quickly. We have a few left, along with turkey pot pies and possibly a few hams. If you need any of those things, we would strongly encourage you to make an order this week. Unlike most things, when they are sold out, they are gone.

As for Thanksgiving, we will be open through Wednesday, November 27th at 3 p.m. and then we will close Thursday and Friday. If you are planning to have family in town, we will have plenty of pork and beef available to sooth the poultry overload in the days after the feast. You could also order a boatload of charcuterie to put together a nice spread for your holiday grazing. Since it tends to be kind of crazy around here leading up to the holidays, I always get off the hook on cooking a turkey and just bring charcuterie and everyone likes me best.

Happy Veterans Day! Hope you get to enjoy tomorrow off work and take some time to rest. As a totally unnecessary aside, it's my sisters birthday and at 39 years old, I'm still sour she always got her birthday off from school. All the same, Happy Birthday Sarah!

Be well and enjoy the week ahead! 

— Jason

Thanksgiving Order Form & Weekly Order Form.

Over the years, we have seen plenty of folks come and go at the shop. Sometimes folks decide to go work at a shop in a big city, others take the notion that they should follow a woman across the country and on a rare occasion, someone just decides butchery isn't for them (we really don't understand this one). That being said, the shop occasionally hits a long run in which everyone sorts their place and things just hum. That's where we are right now. We have such an incredible crew of folks making this shop work and we are grateful they choose to spend their days here doing the lord's work.

Last week, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings came through town and played three nights at the Haw River Ballroom. The whole staff went and listened to some slow, sad tunes in a decidedly fast, happy way. Kevin was even repeatedly asked to stop talking! I just imagine he was talking about whole animal butchery and how nice it is when you hit the atlas bone just right. The point of this being, we really just want to like the folks we work with and we are lucky as hell to have that right now.

All of this was not a plug to convince you that this is a great place to work but as I write this, it's becoming just that. We are hiring a full time employee to help with kitchen projects, assist customers and learn the basics of butchery. If you or someone you know is interested in something like that, give us a call or shoot an email our way. We are happy to train someone who has basic knowledge, we just need you to be a generally affable individual with the desire to work and learn.

Lot's of great things coming up in Saxapahaw as the holiday's approach, so keep an eye out for news from the shop and our awesome neighbors. Take care of yourselves!

As always, here's the weekly order form, plus the super-special Thanksgiving Order Form.

Cheerio, and we’ll see you for our 10th Anniversary Brunch Party THIS SUNDAY! Please RSVP here if you intend to join us.

Hey All!

We had a heck of a week, half the staff taking a beach vacation and the other half going to the Carolina Meat Conference (yep, real thing) in the mountains. And we managed to keep the shop open as well. It's just too tough to close this place—bacons need pulled from cure, 3-day projects like making hot dogs still need to happen, and y'all need fresh meat each week!

So we survived the week but alas, no poetry in this week's newsletter. We'll fill you in on that conference next week, but in the meantime, here's the order form. Hope to see y’all this week!

It rained this week and we were really into that. We needed the rain terribly but it was also nice to look at something other than unrelenting, radiating sun pouring in our huge shop windows. If it wasn't for the fact that the animals look so beautiful, we'd really be getting pretty beat down about this heat. We really appreciate all of you keeping us so busy in the summer months. There is something particularly endearing about someone buying a steak in the evening and knowing that they are going to be throwing it on some coals in the next hour. We like that sort of economy.

Ross and Jason are really excited that in a few weeks they will be traveling to Boone to participate in the NC Choices Carolina Meat Conference. The conference was a mainstay of the year prior to the pandemic and we are super happy its back! We will be presenting a class called "This Little Piggy's Going to Market: A Pork Butchery Demo" (we 100% did not come up with that name). Someone clearly thinks we know something about butchery and we are pretty honored to be presenting at an event that draws folks from all over the country. 

Thanks for being super great customers and neighbors, we wouldn't have been here for almost ten years without you keeping us busy four seasons a year. See you soon!

Schnitzel is forever a hit.

We are really set on making sure that we have something to offer for everyone at the shop. Whether you want a celebratory standing rib roast, some ground beef for a burger, skin-on pork shanks to braise or a rabbit to finally try a rabbit and fennel ragu, we have it - all the time. It's definitely grilling season but I haven't been grilling much as it has been so very hot and those long fields of dry grass make me nervous (PSA - keeping an eye on your local fire ban is a great idea). Instead we've been eating a lot of thin cuts cooked quickly in a pan with a simple sauce. This week I had schnitzel with some shaved cabbage, pork larb and some NC black drum over tomato gravy and red tail grains grits. We know how to make an animal smaller but most of us in the shop are also pretty adept at cooking the things we work with every day.

If you have a question or want to try something new, just ask us for a recommendation! We adore talking about our animals and cuts and we relish the opportunity to help someone nail a new dish. And if you don't want to cook at all, we have plenty of charcuterie and at least four kinds of bacon most of the time for an excellent BLT.

Enjoy the long light and early mornings, we really live in a beautiful place. 

An important note about this week - our schedule is a little different. We are going to be open on Tuesday, July 2nd and will be closed on Thursday, the 4th. We should be breaking cows and pigs to keep the case full on Tuesday so if you want something special before the holiday, you would be well advised to put in an order to assure we have it ready to go.

Also, with a helpful visual provided just above, we really think more folks should be doing a "mixed grill". It's how we at the shop usually cook in the summer if we are feeding a group. The idea being, grab a handful of cuts that call your name from the case and grill them all up for your guests. It's really lovely to have a number of cuts all sliced up on a plate so that you can see what different flavors, textures and specific cuts appeal to you. Its also nice not to worry with trying to cook a bunch of ribeyes to everyones preferred temp.

So, we hope we see you this week and you have the chance to lounge and eat well with friends and family. We plan to do so after a busy start. 

What it usually looks like when a butcher grills out. 

We're going to be brief this time around as we coast into Father's Day and a break from a very busy week. We have received overwhelmingly positive feedback, support and kudos for our Butcher Club Memberships. This week we got to see about half of you and if you would like to be one of those folks next month, put your name on the waiting list at the link below.

We've got an exciting sausage next week, the pickled shiitake. It's something we came up with a couple months ago and we are excited to share it with you. Let us know if there is anything we've forgotten about that you would like to see.

Alright, some of us are Fathers and we're going to go do father stuff. Hope you have a great Sunday and an ecstatically pleasant week!

Sold out, sold out, sold out!

Thanks for a great Saturdays in Sax and for supporting Rodrigo’s debut burrito booth! Plus Roci’s famous salsa! He’ll be at Saturdays in Sax every other Saturday, alternating with Jason & Morgan with butcher shop sandwiches.