The Cookout Nobody Planned

Homestead Meats is a butcher shop, but it has also become a place where strangers meet, talk, and share food. Here's the afternoon an impromptu cookout formed on its own.

One of the things I never expected when I opened the shop here in Evanston was the community that forms around it.

Customers strike up conversations with each other while waiting at the counter. Some are neighbors from a few blocks away, some drive in from across Chicago and the North Shore. Sometimes we introduce people because we know they have something in common. Maybe they come from the same place, do similar work, love the same foods, or share some other thread we happen to notice.e.

Sometimes people bring us treats, which always touches me. And sometimes those treats end up shared with whoever happens to be in the shop that afternoon.

This past Fourth of July, we were open. As the traffic slowed in the afternoon, a customer came by with some excellent ribs he had made. We had just cooked a few pieces of skirt steak that were too small to sell. Some bourbon got poured, too. Then a couple stopped in. Somehow we all found ourselves tasting ribs and talking together, enjoying a little impromptu Independence Day cookout.

These moments are never organized. You don't need an invitation. You just walk in, and sometimes something human happens.

Yes, we are here to cut meat, make sausages, and help you figure out dinner and holiday meals. But over time, Homestead has also become a place where people meet, talk, share, and become part of each other's lives.

That part of the work was completely unexpected. And it means the most to me.

Homestead Meats is Evanston’s locally sourced butcher shop, handcrafting unique fresh meats, deli meats, sausages, and other charcuterie. All fresh meats and eggs are sourced from family-owned Midwestern farms that raise their livestock in open pastures, without hormones or GMO feed.