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An exciting new foodie destination—all sleek dark tile and shining stainless steel—opens this month in Briarcliff.
If you’ve ever wondered where you could find the French steak cut known as a bavette, pecan-smoked bacon, sweetbreads, or a flakey chicken pot pie in Kansas City, put this place on your must-shop list.
Carne Diem, the newest offering by husband-and-wife culinary team Sarah Nelson and Louis Guerrieri, offers everything you might need for breakfast, lunch, snacks, happy hour, or dinner to take home.
The couple, who met when they both worked at fine dining establishments in Denver, also run the popular OMBRA small plates + libations a few doors down.
But why add a butcher shop/deli?
Nelson grew up north of the river, and her grandfather kept a hobby herd of cattle, supplying the family with sides of beef. “When I went away to the University of Colorado in Boulder, my mother sent along a freezer full of ground beef,” Nelson recalls with a laugh.
Guerrieri sharpened his boning knife in upscale restaurants, learning how to make charcuterie, crown roasts, terrines, and gourmet sausages. He can tease a mock tenderloin from under a beefy shoulder blade, skewer Argentinian picanha for the grill, and—is working towards—dry-age beef for the best flavor. “I have been working in restaurants since I was 14,” he says. “I can do just about anything.”
And that “anything” will start with locally raised and ethically produced foods, including beef, pork, chicken, and duck from Barham Family Farms in Kearney; lamb and farmstead cheeses from Green Dirt Farm in Weston; mushrooms from MyCo Planet; micro-greens from area farms; and breads from Ibis Bakery. “We’ll also have game meats—quail, wild boar, and pheasant,” says Guerrieri. In Denver, Guerrieri cured and smoked both lamb and beef bacon and hopes to do the same at Carne Diem.
Carne Diem also offers a sustainable seafood counter and plenty of tinned fish, the new go-to nibble.
If you order a hot breakfast sandwich, you’ll get house-made sausage, local eggs, and a bakery bagel. Deli meats will be made in-house. Grab-and-go sandwiches and salads with a seasonal approach will be available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. most days. Carne Diem will also carry meal kits to take home to warm or bake in the oven.
Pastry for meat pies, paté en croute, and other goodies are Nelson’s department, and she relies on local, freshly ground flour from Marion Milling.
The couple will also roll out the dough—pasta dough—for lasagna and more. “We bought a special extruder in the shape of our logo, and we’ll have some fun with it,” says Nelson.
The re-emergence of the mom-and-pop butcher shop joins forces with the family farm, driven by the desire for local ingredients, a more health-centered approach to eating, and concern for environmental factors, says Guerrieri.
“We also will be offering cooking classes, butchery tutorials, catering, and special events,” says Nelson.
Take home and enjoy the good stuff from Carne Diem.
