Where the Elite Meet to Eat …
Where the Elite Meet to Eat …
What goes best with a Blue Bottle macchiato: Rosemary shortbread? Saffron-and-lemon snickerdoodles? A grilled steak sandwich with arugula and a tangy green smear of chimichurri on an Acme torpedo roll?
If you picked the steak sandwich, head to Blue Bottle’s Jack London Square location the third Thursday of the month between noon and 2 for the Belcampo Meat-Up. Something gorgeously, locally meaty is sure to be on the menu.
Each month’s Meat-Up features a single dish, made on site and inspired by one of the world’s great cuisines. It might be grilled beef kebabs rolled in flatbread with minted yogurt and carrot salad; a Moroccan-spiced roast beef sandwich; or beef chile verde with handmade tortillas and pickled vegetables. The one constant? The Belcampo Meat Company’s own grass-fed beef, from animals humanely raised on some 10,000 acres of pasture in the Shasta Valley near Yreka. (Pictured above: A Belcampo grilled steak sandwich with arugula and a tangy green smear of chimichurri on an Acme torpedo roll.)
Popularized through word of mouth and social media, the monthly pop-ups have been a mouthwatering way for Belcampo to build brand awareness. Established in 2011 by Eat Real Fest founder Anya Fernald and investor Todd Robinson, the company is headquartered in Jack London Square. Setting up a grill and serving lunch out on the sidewalk (or inside Blue Bottle’s cupping room, depending on the weather) has been a fun excuse for Belcampo’s food-minded staff to get out of the office while also getting their product in the mouths of their neighbors.
The company expects to handle every aspect of production from ranch to table. There are plans to open a slaughterhouse close to the ranch, which should help address a crucial need for more small-scale facilities for organic and pasture-raised meat producers. Ranching and agritourism projects are also under way in Uruguay and Belize. Later this year, look for Belcampo’s first butcher shop to open, in Larkspur, at the Marin Country Mart.
—Stephanie Rosenbaum
Belcampo Meat-Up
Third Thursdays, noon to 2pm at Blue Bottle Coffee, 300 Webster St, Oakland
Pictured above: Hannah Hausauer (left) and Bronwen Hanna-Korpi of Belcampo Group, Inc. take a moment out from a busy Meat-Up outside Blue Bottle to talk to Edible East Bay.
