NEWS

Meat dishes take center stage at new Fall River takeout restaurant

Linda Murphy
lmurphy@heraldnews.com
Joe Holdiman shows off the prime rib at the Meat Shop.

FALL RIVER – As the name implies, meat dishes take center stage at the Meat Shop, a new takeout restaurant in the burgeoning Purchase Street dining area.

Meat Shop, located next door to Thyme Blossom Café, will focus on prime rib, barbecue and down home Southern food with all the sides, said owner Joseph Holdiman. After a trial run pop-up that opened during last weekend’s FABRIC 2020 arts festival, the new eatery will open on Friday. If the Facebook comments from that pop-up are any indication, it should be a hit. “OMG I just had the best prime rib sandwich I have ever had from the Meat Shop. Incredible. I am dreaming of the next one already,” said one commenter on the Meat Shop Facebook page.

Holdiman, who also owns Thyme Blossom Café, said the prime rib undergoes a three-day dry cure before it’s roasted to ensure the salt and flavoring develops in the meat to give it a complex flavor. “You wouldn’t get it if you didn’t so it that way,” he said.

The concept of barbecued meats started at Thyme Blossom Café where they offered their signature Jerky Joe’s BBQ sauces on meats as part of their take-home dinner specials and they still plan to continue offering them at Thyme Blossom.

Because they were such a hit with customers, Holdiman decided to bring the concept next door in a space that he originally planned to do a tapas bar called Pavao. “With COVID, you have to change and adapt and we were looking at substantial build-out costs to do Pavao and our seating capacity was going to be around 12 to 14 people; it didn’t make sense. So we decided to do another takeout concept and build off what we had at Thyme Blossom,” he said. “We need more takeout options in the city that are a little bit more elevated than fast food.”

The prime rib will be sold as hot sandwiches with thick slices of the meat or in meals with sides. Barbecued chicken, their signature ribs, pulled pork and kielbasa will also be featured on the menu in dishes and various sandwich combinations. For side options, they offer macaroni and cheese, baked beans, potato salad and cole slaw. The cole slaw is a creamy, Southern-style slaw and the Southern-style ribs are cooked for 12 hours with a dry rub and then they’re caramelized with another layer of dry rub to build what he described as a “sauce bark.”

“It’s the exact opposite of Thyme Blossom,” he said as he poured a glass of their signature blue bug juice topped with a gummy worm. “It’s way more down home than Thyme Blossom and it’s a little bit more affordable. Our sandwiches start at $8.50, which isn’t bad for a prime rib sandwich.”

The signature Thyme Blossom desserts will be sold there as well as some fun Southern backyard-style barbecue goodies such as their take on Rice Krispie treats.

As a special for the pop-up during FABRIC, Holdiman said they did a low country clam boil with Cajun-style broth thickened with okra with boiled clams and kielbasa so customers can look forward to specials like that dish as well.

A self-described hick, Holdiman said he was born in a tiny town in eastern Washington State before they eventually moved to Seattle. “It’s a settlement on a highway, really. The entire town consisted of a Mormon church, a trailer park, a potato farm and a little grocery store. When I was born they had a population of 350. We didn’t even get mail delivery that’s how remote we were,” he said.

His parents and grandparents worked on the potato farm. His mother’s family is from Tennessee so he grew up with a lot of Southern food, though he never really knew the roots of it at the time.

The barbecue sauce, Jerky Joe’s, is an evolution of the sauce he grew up with while the prime rib is made with traditional French seasonings. “We’re really excited to offer a prime rib sandwich in Fall River and our take on barbecue,” he said. “It’s a cool little shop, it’s simple, it’s just about a few really good things.”

Meat Shop, located next door to Thyme Blossom at the corner of Bedford and Purchase streets, is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m Tuesdays through Saturdays.

The thicker slices of prime rib that go into sandwiches at Meat Shop. [Herald News photo | Colin Furze]