Local Pig Ranch Launches Cut and Wrap Shop, Adds Retail

Last week, Julian's Cook Pigs Ranch started butchering their heritage pigs and the family-run ranch's new 4,500-square-foot cut and wrap facility in Kearny Mesa.

Tomorrow, they officially open to the public from 2:30 to 6:30 p.m. at 8280 Clairemont Mesa Boulvard, Suite 117, and will be open every Wednesday going forward, with extended operating hours coming next month.

Shoppers will be able to walk in and select from frozen cuts of Cook's pork or call ahead to place special orders. For now, they are only processing their pigs in the USDA-certified facility, 60 hogs a month to start, but will eventually offer butchering and distribution services to other local ranches. Cook Pigs Ranch will also be making fresh sausages and working with a smokehouse to do their own bacon and deli meat.

Master butcher Travis Stockstill, a vet of the recently-shuttered Lindy & Grundy artisan butcher shop in Los Angeles, is heading up a staff well-versed in whole animal butchery including Melissa Cortina, who also worked at Lindy & Grundy and trained with famed Italian butcher, Dario Cecchini. Future plans include classes on butchery and other meat-related education.