Frody Volgger • Caputo’s Butcher Shop

Reviewed by Josh

Frody Volgger from Caputo’s Butcher Shop joined us for our Beards, Brats and Beers SLC Mixer last week.  Heembodies the three things that most motivates me about the local food scene in Salt Lake City: craftsmanship, longevity and accessibility.  Let me explain…

Craftsmanship:  Frody talks about butchering the same way a guitar player talks about a pre-World War II Martin D18 (to audibly experience this sound, listen to Ron Block from Alison Krauss – we all need a little more Union Station in our lives).   He doesn’t butcher meats simply because it’s a paycheck.  My impression from an evening chatting with him is that he does it with great passion, care and love.  As a painter uses a paint brush, Frody uses a cleaver.

Frody made our brats that evening and after eating one,  I said to him, “if this is what brats are supposed to taste like, I’ve never had a brat before in my life.”

Longevity:  Frody is in it for the long haul.  There’s nothing worse than seeing someone do something only because it’s trendy and it can make money in the short term.  That kills a food scene (or any scene) and makes it kitchy to the max.  If sourcing local and hand-making brats and geeking out on fine ingredients was all of a sudden not cool anymore, you would still find Frody doing what he does best – great meats, sourced responsibly and locally, fashioned artistically and carefully.

Accessibility: Frody hung out in a room full of people he didn’t know for a couple of hours drinking Uinta Beer chatting on an elementary level about his craft.  I’m sure we were all mispronouncing things, making weird faces when he explained Head Cheese and asking stupid questions, but Frody seemed to enjoy himself and enjoy educating us on what he does.

Many Salt Lake artisans and shop owners will talk with you at great length on a basic level because they want you to know about their product.  I’ve experienced this with David Perkins of High West, Steve Kuftinec of Uinta, Cristiano at Creminelli, Matt Caputo (and Troy Peterson and Jamey Chelius) at Caputo’s, Viet Pham at Forage, James Dumas at High West Saloon, Carl at 350 Main, Joe at Nobrow, Erica at The Rose and on and on and on and on.

Bottom line, we have an incredible scene in Utah and Frody embodies it well.  We are proud and thankful that he would join us for our SLC Mixer introducing Charming Beard Coffee.

Cheers to you, Frody!

Comments (2)

  1. It’s simple! If you want the REAL thing done in the REAL way, you’ll find it at Frody’s Butcher Shop in Caputo’s. Old-fashioned, not trendy, stands the test of time!

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