Kersten Rettig: Celebrate New Year’s at Home with Evan

Dallas is brimming with glamorous options for a New Year’s Eve night on the town, but if you’re more the stay home and celebrate type, Evan’s Meat Market has a brilliant selection of beef, pork, chicken, and sides that are equally glam.

It makes perfect sense that Evan Meagher, a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, an avid hunter, and part of a ranching family, would open a first-class butcher shop. Lafayette is the heart of Cajun country and known for its butcher shops where you can find meat, poultry, and seafood prepared, stuffed, and seasoned every Cajun way imaginable and it’s all good. When you’re from there and you get accustomed to good Cajun eating, it’s hard to live without.

Fortunately for us, Evan’s pet project is bringing that kind of high quality, flavorful proteins, and side dishes to Dallas. Most of the beef, pork, and chicken sold at Evan’s isn’t pre-seasoned, just very high quality and naturally flavorful.

Evan’s Meat Market has locally sourced beef in a variety of cuts for New Year’s Eve steaks, braised short ribs, or burgers. I’m a filet girl, myself, and found that Evan’s filet mignon is superior to those I’ve purchased elsewhere.

New Year’s Day Food Explained

Traditional southern food lore practically requires that you serve certain dishes on New Year’s Day.

• Pork is served because pigs root around on the ground for food in a forward trajectory, so pork symbolizes forward motion and progress in the new year.
• Black-eyed peas, which represent coins, can come in in the form of Hoppin’ John, served cold as in Texas Caviar, or warm in a velvety sauce. You can buy the latter version at Evan’s where his chef adds creamer peas for an even silkier texture.
• Greens represent dollars, and my family’s tradition is that we had to serve three different kinds of greens, for three times the dollars, I guess. Collard greens, Swiss chard, mixed lettuce salad all count. Bummer for kids who refuse to eat green food.
• Cornbread symbolizes gold, no controversy there. The real cornbread controversy being whether it should be sweet, with sugar added in the batter; unsweet; or, with corn and jalapeños added.

Evan’s Meat Market sells great side dishes besides black-eyed peas, including macaroni and cheese. It also sells AMAZING boudin, sandwiches, some cold cuts, and other items worth checking out. 

On my frequent road trips back and forth to see my family in Baton Rouge and New Orleans, I’d often stop at a Cajun country market to stock up on meats, boudin and other sausages.  Thanks to Evan’s Meat Market, I can get my provisions locally.

Evan’s Meat Market will be open Sunday, Dec. 31.
The Shops at Highland Park, 4266 Oak Lawn Ave., 972.803.5318