The Butcher’s Nook

I first learned about The Butcher’s Nook (https://butchersnook.com/) the same way I learn about a lot of the best places to eat in and around Orlando: from a write-up by my brilliant friend Amy Drew Thompson, the multimedia food reporter for The Orlando Sentinel, our fine local newspaper.  Back in January of this year, she wrote a great article about the Mount Dora butcher shop/deli restaurant and its chef-owner Mario Pennaherrera, and I had been wanting to try it ever since.  Unfortunately, Mount Dora is over an hour away from me, but Amy Drew mentioned they would be opening a second location at a new food hall opening in Apopka, which is only half an hour away.  I’ve been tracking its progress ever since, and it finally announced a soft opening this past Wednesday.

Me being me, I left early enough to beat rush hour traffic heading west on State Road 436, and I was the very first person in line for the soft opening of the Hall’s on 5th food hall in quaint downtown Apopka.  The food hall was constructed in a  hundred-year-old building that used to be Hall’s Feed Store… and now it’s  a place that feeds humans, so that is fitting.  The developers really modernized it, adding a bunch of comfortable outdoor tables, light strings that I associate with hipster parties, and even cornhole boards.  It is already sweltering in mid-May, and I joked to some ladies who were also waiting outside that at least it isn’t August.  But if we all survive until November and December, it will probably be wonderful to dine al fresco at Hall’s on 5th.    

When you enter the building, there is a large indoor seating area with regular tables and smaller high-top tables against the wall, as well as a full bar.  If you’re used to East End Market, the venerable food hall in Orlando’s Audubon Park neighborhood, having an actual indoor dining space and a bar is a huge upgrade.  But then there are six food stalls down a relatively narrow hallway, and when this place gets busy, that hallway is going to be crowded and chaotic.  That’s why I made sure to be first — arrive early, order first, grab a seat, escape easily.  This is good advice for life in general, not just hip new food halls.

The Butcher’s Nook is the first food stall on the left side of the hallway.  After it come Empanada & Co., Soulicious Vegan Kitchen, and Parlor Waffle Kitchen.  On the right side, Thrive has a larger space, followed by Hawaiian restaurant Sweet & Salty Island Grindz, which also has a location I visited once at Henry’s Depot, the food hall in downtown Sanford.  The Hall’s on 5th website has a page with links to all the other vendors.

I was the first person in line at The Butcher’s Nook, and after briefly studying the menu on the wall, I ordered three sandwiches to go (and technically got three meals out of them!).
This is the Italian Americano, with prosciutto cotto, mortadella, Genoa salami, pepperoni, provolone cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, red onions cut paper-thin (the best way to serve onions on a sub or hoagie), and some kind of beguiling vinaigrette on a soft sub roll.  I couldn’t resist unrolling this sub and devouring half before leaving the food hall with the rest of my bounty.  It is definitely one of the best Italian subs in Orlando.  


Here’s a good shot of the other half back at home:

This is the L’Diablo, with prosciutto cotto, hot capocollo, spicy salame Calabrese, n’duja (an awe-inspiring, orangey-red spicy salami spread, kind of like a pâté), smoked provolone cheese, arugula, and Calabrian chili aioli on a ciabatta roll.  I love a spicy Italian sandwich, and I’d give this one a 9 out of 10.  The only way it could have been better was to be served on the same kind of sub roll as the Italian Americano, because I will always prefer a soft white sub or hoagie roll to ciabatta bread.  But credit where credit is due — this ciabatta was softer than many I’ve tried elsewhere.  

And this is the Nooky, with prosciutto di Parma, burrata (fresh mozzarella stuffed with stracciatella, or stretched cheese curds, and clotted cream), Grana Padano cheese (a hard cheese similar to parmesan), arugula, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic glaze, and fig jam on the softest, freshest, fluffiest focaccia bread.  This was another damn near perfect sandwich, with the saltiness of the prosciutto, the creaminess of the burrata, the one-two punch of sweetness from the balsamic glaze and fig jam, and that incredible focaccia. 

I ordered these three sandwiches on purpose, so I could try all three types of bread offered by The Butcher’s Nook, and these contained the best combinations of my favorite ingredients.  I later contacted chef-owner Mario Penaherrera on Facebook to ask him which brands of Italian cured meats he uses, and he told me they serve Veroni, Citterio, Leoncini, and The Spotted Trotter — all high-end charcuterie purveyors; no Boar’s Head here.

Their website advertised a few other awesome-looking sandwiches, like the Downtown (corned beef, pastrami, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and Russian dressing on ciabatta) and The OG (mortadella, burrata, pesto, tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil on focaccia), but those two weren’t on the menu at Hall’s on 5th, so they probably just serve those in their original Mount Dora location.  It’s all good — I chose wisely and enjoyed the heck out of all three sandwiches I chose.  And that reminds me of the sage advice from the late singer-songwriter Warren Zevon: “Enjoy every sandwich.”  I try to live my life that way, and if you go to The Butcher’s Nook, I guarantee you will enjoy every sandwich you order from there.  

Leave a comment