This is the fifth straight Xmas meal we've enjoyed thanks in large part to meat provided by the Chopping Block. There's a line-up out the door on the 24th but it moves fast and there are no complaints -- because that's the price of customized service and pre-orders that come out just as you expect.
Not only are the cuts customized, but I believe the butcher orders as much as possible from local and sustainable livestock producers. Wish he would be more explicit about that, and promote that aspect of the business.
In my e-book on food and city building, I argue that independent main street retailers like this are essential to a local and sustainable food system because they can customize their orders, rather than insisting on -- as the supermarkets do -- making one order for one specific formula item for an entire chain -- which virtually makes local and sustainable food impossible.
The same attention to customization and smaller orders applies to the condiments that are sold here. All the ones we tried, including one of the sauces we used for baked beans on Xmas Eve, turned out perfectly.