Specialty butcher shop Cline’s Custom Meats opens in San Marco

People looking for high-grade cuts of wagyu beef or specialty meats such as elk or bison can now find them in San Marco.

Cline’s Custom Meats, a butcher shop offering specialty cuts, opened Aug. 20 at 1625 Hendricks Ave. in the retail space that once housed a La Nopalera restaurant.

Owners Milouda and Joseph Cline said they opened the shop to offer high-quality specialty cuts.

Cline’s features bright white-tiled walls and display cases. Customers can see the back area where the meat is cut.

Joseph Cline said they chose San Marco to open the shop for a number of reasons. Milouda Cline has worked in San Marco, they like the area and many of their friends live there. They particularly like the location because it offers parking, which Joseph Cline said is essential for a butcher shop.

Milouda Cline comes from a family of butchers. She displays a framed photo of her father cutting meat in Morocco, where her family has five butcher shops.

She has 20 years of experience in the hospitality management business and worked for eight years at Walt Disney World in Orlando.

Joseph Cline worked in restaurant kitchens since age 17, where he first learned about the food industry, how to cut meat and manage the kitchen. He also has 12 years in meat sales for Grand Western Meat Co. and at Halperns’ Steak and Seafood. At Grand Western, part of his training included how to cut meat. Joseph Cline also worked in a butcher shop in south Florida.

Cline's offers high-grade cuts, including wagyu beef and dry-aged New York strip. They also provide custom cuts, if customers have a special preference.

Seafood offerings include king crab from Dutch Harbor, Alaska, and Alaskan sockeye salmon.

Elk, venison, bison, ox tail and other specialty meats are also available upon request. Joseph Cline said there is a high demand for specialty meats.

Prices range from $13.99 a pound for lamb loin up to $25.99 a pound for dry-aged strip steak.

In addition to meat, the shop offers seasonings and cheeses such as Meredith Dairy sheep and goat cheese, Port Reyes blue cheese, white truffle oil, Cross Creek honey, Sweet Grass Dairy cheese, Blackberry Patch small batch syrups and preserves, and Hard Core Carnivore seasonings.

The shop is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday.