Traverse City's Wren the Butcher

Bratwurst and poutine and spaetzle, oh my!

By Janice Binkert | Dec. 16, 2017

The logo for Wren the Butcher, the artisan sausage and rustic comfort food restaurant that chef-owner Adam McMarlin opened inside the new State Street Marketplace in Traverse City last July, features a tiny bird perched on a huge meat cleaver. Some may find that an odd choice, but then, Wren is located right next to the Marketplace’s flagship operation and owner, Monkey Fist Brewing Co., which sports an equally quirky logo. And as it turns out, the Monkey and the Wren are quite the compatible neighbors.

“They make pretty good beer, and I make pretty good sausage,” said McMarlin. A match made in — well, in this case, a historic brick building that started out life in as a horse barn for the Traverse City Police Department in the early 1900s and was later a dry cleaning business before being transformed into the eclectic food, beverage and retail space it is today.

McMarlin explained how the wren came to land on the cleaver for his business: “Around the time we were about to open the restaurant, our youngest daughter was born, and we gave her the middle name Wren. Of course, I needed a name for the restaurant, too, and I already knew that we were going to incorporate the whole-animal butchery aspect into the menu, so the butcher/cleaver part was a natural. And somehow, adding ‘Wren’ to that just kind of had a nice ring to it, softening it a bit. I’ve actually started answering to ‘Wren’ now too, because people just assume it’s my name, and it’s easier to just go with it than explaining the whole thing!”

Some locals might know of McMarlin from his days at the former Bay Leaf on Park Street, or most recently from the Cooks’ House, whose owners, Eric Patterson and Jen Blakeslee, gave him their blessing when he unexpectedly got the opportunity to launch his own restaurant just a couple of blocks away. Perhaps portending his future path, he had worked in a butcher shop/grocery store during high school, in Detroit. He had also held restaurant jobs while pursuing a degree in psychology at Western Michigan University before deciding to veer off into the food industry just short of his senior year [Note: He recently went back and earned his degree, “To give my kids the example of finishing what you start,” he said.]

For the next couple of years, the aspiring culinarian cooked his way across the U.S., from North Carolina to San Diego, where his girlfriend, a Traverse City native, was going to college. “I basically followed her to California,” said McMarlin, “and it worked out well. I got some excellent training from a respected French chef who became my mentor, and my girlfriend became my wife! We moved back to her hometown about seven years ago to open the Bay Leaf. I really like it here. I had lived and worked in big cities before, but this is a really great place to be, especially when you’re raising a family.”

Landing in his current space was “serendipitous,” McMarlin recalled. “I knew that at some point I wanted to open something of my own. I had kind of been looking around a bit for just the right place and time. When I heard about the plans for the Marketplace, I randomly emailed the real estate rep for it, roughly outlining what I wanted to do, and within a half hour, I got a call from the owner — it all happened very quickly.”

He went for a more casual menu with his new venture, rather than fine dining as he had done in the past. ”Sausage-making is something I really like to do, and you have a lot of flexibility with it,” he said. “There are so many types of sausages, and a lot of different dishes where you can incorporate sausage. But that’s not all we do — we usually have a couple of pastas and risotto, soups or salads, and sometimes desserts too. The menu changes a lot, especially in the little details, but we also make big changes as things come in and out of season — or if we just want to try something new. We let the availability of ingredients dictate our menu rather than being hard-nosed about what we want to do and then going and trying to find the ingredients.”

McMarlin gets his produce from local markets whenever possible and his meats through Cherry Capital Foods and area farmers. “I recently found a great new lamb supplier (merguez sausage, anyone?), and a source for pork closer to Traverse City that raises Berkshire-Duroc pigs, the same breed I’ve been using all along,” he said. “They are fantastic.”

Plate composition is a key element of McMarlin’s cuisine. “Everything we put on a plate is meant to complement each other,” he explained. “The sausages are spiced and rich, so we pair them with things like Dijon mustard and our house-pickled vegetables, because that acidity cuts through the fat in the sausage. When you eat it all together, it’s balanced. The share plate (three different sausages, condiments, and other accompaniments) is a nice introduction to what we do, and it’s great for two to three people. I think a dish just has to have great ingredients and be prepared properly so that everything in it still stands out — not getting lost or trying to hide behind anything else.”

One top customer pick from the menu is poutine (fried potatoes, sausage velouté, cheese curds). “Like most of our food, it’s basically a simple dish,” said McMarlin, but it’s one of those things where a person will eat one and then also order one to go on their way out.” Other favorites are the farmhouse sausage (made with pork, white wine, garlic, coriander, fennel, mustard seed, fresh herbs) on a brioche bun, the daily gnocchi (currently with roasted chicken, leeks, and mushrooms), and the spaetzle (sautéed in butter, with crumbled sausage, sauerkraut, and parmesan). Together, these hearty dishes lend a kind of French brasserie vibe to the menu.

“This time of year is a good time for locals to come in,” said McMarlin. “It’s not as busy, and we have more time to interact with them. I’d like to invite them to come and take a seat at the long butcher block bar that overlooks our kitchen. We incorporated it purposely, so that our customers could hang out and feel like they’re at a café. We wanted to create a casual, comfortable atmosphere, and also give them a chance to see what a professional kitchen looks like and what we’re doing here. People will sit there and ask, ‘Hey, what are you making?’ And we’re happy to talk with them about our food.”

Wren the Butcher is located inside the State Street Marketplace at 329 East State St. in Traverse City. Open 11am–9pm Mondays through Thursdays, 11am–10pm Fridays and Saturdays, and 12pm–8pm Sundays. For more information, also about cooking classes, private dinners or catering, call (231) 252-8001, visit wrenthebutcher.com, or check out their Facebook page.

TRADITION AND RESPECT
LEARNING FROM THE PAST
Butchery is a skill that someone in every family used to have in earlier times, of necessity, McMarlin pointed out. “For me, it’s a way to connect with the past, doing everything from scratch. You can get a better idea of the quality of meat when you have the whole product to look at — and it’s going to stay fresher longer and be more flavorful. If you have the skill to utilize all of the parts of it, it’s also more cost-effective and less wasteful. But what’s perhaps most important to me is respecting the fact that this was once a living creature, and being mindful of how it was treated and responsible about where you’re getting it and how you’re using it. This this animal lived its life to become food to nourish us.”

FOOD AND FUN
CALLING ALL AGES
The spacious Marketplace in which Wren the Butcher is located is a casual, family friendly destination. A large fenced-in patio allows guests to enjoy their food and drinks al fresco in the warmer months, and inside, there’s even a kid’s play area. Monkey Fist also regularly hosts bands or special events, including Trivia Nights and Cornhole Leagues. “Of course that draws people in who might also want some of our food to go with their beer,” said McMarlin. “We really enjoy being part of such a relaxed, fun atmosphere — it’s just one more benefit of where we are.” (P.S. Wren will gladly serve the kiddies a plain sausage, potatoes, or pasta upon request!)