Western Daughters butcher shop opens in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood

Kate Kavanaugh, co-owner of Western Daughters,

a new Denver butcher shop.

This might not be great news for cows and pigs, but it is for two-legged carnivores: Western Daughters, which is billing itself as a “High Plains butcher shop,” opened Dec. 12 in Denver’s LoHi neighborhood. The 720-square-foot shop sits at 3326 Tejon St.

It’s owned and run by — well, not the husband-and-wife team, but the soon-to-be-husband-and-wife team –of Kate Kavanaugh and Josh Curtiss. The two opened the shop after training in New York under butchers from Fleisher’s Grass-fed and Organic Meats.

That aesthetic is driving their shop. The meat, all raised within 250 miles of Denver, is free of hormones and antibiotics.

“We see animals from the inside out, and it’s with that perspective that we’re able to verify the health of the animals and help support sustainable ranching and land management practices,” Kavanaugh says.

Notes Curtiss: We’ve moved away from truly knowing where our food comes from. We want to be a window from Denver into those ranches, from the life of the animal to the lives of those that raise the animals.”

Curtiss, a master carpenter, brought his skills to the shop’s interior, turning out the woodwork.

Home cooks will be happy to know that along with beef, pork, lamb and seasonal game meats, the shop will carry items such as stock, marrow butter and deli meats. Kavanaugh and Curtiss also plan to host seasonal events, classes, lectures, farm visits, butcher demonstrations and community dinners.

Whew. All that and a wedding to plan, too.

While the website is still a work in progress, you can reach the shop at 303-477-6328 or visit them on Facebook at facebook.com/westernbutchers.