La Divisa Meats, a forward-thinking butcher shop, opens in Reading Terminal Market.

"The end-all, be-all was to have a retail counter and slicer and that's it."

STILL LIFE WITH SALAMI: Nick Macri at La Divisa Meats. neal santos
Neal Santos

“The end-all, be-all for me wasn’t to have a white tablecloth restaurant. The end-all, be-all was to have a retail counter and slicer and that’s it,” Nick Macri says, standing behind the polished wood counter at La Divisa Meats, his new butcher and charcuterie shop in Reading Terminal Market.  

Named for the Calabrian subdivision where his grandmother’s farm is located in southern Italy, the shiny cases at La Divisa are stocked with lamb shanks, Denver ribs, rolled and tied pork bellies, housemade pates and slices of lamb bacon that are sourced from a handful of local farms dedicated to sustainable and humane practices, including Berks County’s Country Time Farms and Birchrun Hills in Chester Springs. Macri’s first full-time foray into the world of butchery began at Reading Terminal a little over a year ago when he took on a managerial position at Border Springs Farm’s stand in the market. 

Coming off a four-year run as chef at Bella Vista’s Southwark, Macri was ready for a change. “I’d always been kicking around the idea of opening a butcher shop, and for whatever reason, leases fell through, partnerships didn’t materialize and Craig [Rogers] needed a manager here and I was like alright, it’s time to get back into the retail world and do it.”  

Macri’s affinity for butchery and charcuterie grew during his time at Southwark and previously at Osteria, but it’s a passion that goes back much further, even beyond a class he took at Drexel’s culinary school. A son of an Italian couple that immigrated to Toronto, Macri grew up curing salami and capicola with his uncle and cousins. “I think of it more as a social thing, but it also kinda preserved tradition,” Macri explains. 

He attended Drexel’s culinary arts program on a soccer scholarship, and Alan Segel’s charcuterie class struck a major chord. After culinary school, Macri sought out jobs in kitchens where he could delve deeper into the world of curing meats. He spent his free time researching and staging at places where he could further his charcuterie skills. 

“I think I like the technical aspect of it. I like the method behind it. It’s not on-the-fly, it’s very precise, and I think my brain works that way a little bit. I hate the way that flour feels on my hands, so I think if it wasn’t for that, I probably would have been a baker. I feel like it is the same kind of technical ability and things like that. And it’s delicious.”

Macri had been bringing in Border Springs Farms’ lamb during his time at Southwark so when Rogers, the owner, approached him about running his stand at Reading Terminal, it was a perfect fit. “ I even kicked around the idea of quitting restaurants altogether and going to work at Whole Foods,” Macri says. “I needed to do this and it worked out.”

During his time at Border Springs, Macri was handling pretty much all of the daily operations. About a year in, Rogers brought up the idea of a partnership, which turned into something a little bigger. “Hey, how would you feel if I just took it over?” Macri asked. “We hashed it out and I still use the [Border Springs] lamb here exclusively. It’s a great product and it’s something that I enjoy selling. [But] if I was going to put money toward [the stand] for ownership, I wanted it to be more than just lamb.”

Reconnecting with the farmers that he worked with at Southwark, Macri and his small staff are breaking down animals in-house, making for a selection of cuts that you’re not going to find shrink-wrapped at your local supermarket.

“We’re going to try as much as possible to stick to the whole-animal ethos and go from there. But in the same respects, since we do have such close relationships with the farmers we’re working with — if Paul has an excess of trotters or heads, I’ll gladly take them for retail, or if Sue has a bunch of beef shanks that she can’t seem to move at her farmer’s markets — I want to be an option for them to be able to utilize.”

Along with cuts of lamb, veal and pork, Marci’s refrigerated case is stocked with pates, terrines, lamb stock and lamb bacon. “Every day we’re adding one new item to the case and getting it up there. Hopefully, in a month and a half’s time we’re going to have some dry cured stuff ready to go.”

Working with whole animals, Macri anticipated having lots of leftover bones and scraps, the stuff that the best stocks are made from. He’s planning on selling quarts of ramen broth for home cooks to heat up and garnish.

“I’ve always felt that I wished that people cooked at home more,” he says. “I get it people are busy. You can’t simmer stock for eight hours, but you can grab a quart and throw some stuff in there.

“Since we do have a strong kitchen background we can add a lot a value to things that usually get thrown away, unfortunately,” Macri explains with a measure of butcher-centric respect. “At one point it was a living, breathing thing, so if you are going to kill it, do it some sort of justice and try to use every piece.”

La Divisa Meats | Reading Terminal Market, 51 N. 12th St., 215-627-2100, ladivisameats.com. Mon.-Sat., 8 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sun., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.