Urban Butcher Opens Next Week in Silver Spring

Urban Butcher, the new "nose-to-tail" restaurant in Silver Spring, opens next week, according to a restaurant news release. 

The restaurant—which will not take reservations—will open at 5 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, at 8226 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. Initially, Urban Butcher will offer dinner and happy hour. Lunch, brunch, a coffee shop throughout the day and a butcher shop are planned for early 2014, according to a restaurant spokesperson.

Urban Butcher will offer an eclectic menu of local meats and a wide selection of wine. The restaurant will cure and age "cuts from heritage breeds of livestock chosen for the natural flavors they take from the land on which they freely graze," and will have a custom-designed, glass-enclosed curing cellar as well as an in-house butchering kitchen, according to a restaurant news release.

The restaurant, which is being designed by McAllister Architects, also will have a communal table and garage-door-sized windows to give the place the feel of an open-air market.

"The extensive sharable menu of eclectic and honest fare will feature a significant selection of in-house cured and aged cuts of meat, as well as seafood, poultry, pig and game. Customers will also be able to purchase these same cuts from the in-house butcher shop ... [and] many of the proteins on the menu will come from local and sustainable sources," the news release added.

Chef and owner Raynold Mendizabal is a restaurant industry veteran, and it's been a lifelong dream of his to open a restaurant like Urban Butcher.

"I want to create a place where the community can come and enjoy great tasting, honest food expressing the natural flavors of the ingredients in a care-free and welcoming atmosphere surrounded by their neighbors, friends and like-minded strangers they just met."

Note the restaurant's initial hours: Monday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. On Sundays, Urban Butcher will open at 5 p.m., and Sunday's closing time is still to be determined. Dinner will be served from 6 to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and from 6 p.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. "Happy Hour" is every day to closing.

For more information on Urban Butcher, visit the restaurant's website (www.urbanbutcher.com), Facebook page and Twitter stream (it's the one and only @UrbanButcher), or call 301-585-5800.