Meat Street Sandwich Shop - Alexandria, MN

We are still relatively new to the Alexandria area. We've crossed the threshold into a new year on the calendar, but we've only been here for four months. We're still discovering new things...or figuring out how these new things work. We live outside of town and for these first four months I've driven by  Lake Country Meats on a near daily basis, but hadn't made the time to stop. There was always people there. I also noted, very early on, that there was a sandwich shop attached to the butcher. A deli with a top-notch supply chain. Interest: piqued. It's a busy time. Moving, then into the holidays. Time flies. Once, in these first few months, I tried to pop in, but they were only open Thursday through the weekend. This was a Tuesday. You live and you learn. A visit to this place got lost in the fray. Then, it's just the winter. I've adopted a style of winter survival that you might call "bear-like". Unless I have to leave the house, I am hunkered down. I don't have a lot of work. No special trips to the deli, that's for sure. Until an early January morning when my better half comes up with a hell of an idea. 

"We should grab lunch at that sandwich place."

Brilliant. So, to the deli I go. The merits of an attached garage can't be diminished, in my opinion. Though, it does eliminate the one excuse I could make for not wanting to leave. On second thought, maybe it can be diminished. It was a nice enough day, anyway. Well, you're not here for the weather report. It's cold everywhere in January.

Just get to the deli already. Pulled pork sandwich, steak burrito, brisket mac & cheese...and baked beans.

Some leeway is required, and granted, when you're dealing with this sort of set up. This deli is attached to the butcher shop. Brick and mortar, sure. But, it's a newer thing and more akin to a pop-up than a restaurant. Sharing some similarities with a food truck. All the orders are to-go. It's not a proper sit down restaurant is what I'm getting at. But, they still managed to sell a healthy, hot portion of beans. This was served up in what I noted as a "large, styrofoam container". I had leftovers. Healthy serving. This was a single bean dish. I would suspect it was a canned bean base that they improved upon in their preparation. Though a single bean, they were cooked well. Tender without being mushy. They're called the "cowboy beans" and they did well to meet that expectation. There was white onion in this dish to help provide a subtle savory note to the dish. They improved upon the barbeque aspect by including, what appeared to be, bacon and brisket in the dish. This helped add savoriness & smokiness to the dish, and improve upon it's bite. All of these ingredients are cooked together in a very nice sauce. It's got well-reduced, thick consistency to it. It was also an incredibly well balanced combination of sweet and spicy. There was enough heat in the dish to keep it interesting, but the sweetness helped to prevent the beans from overpowering your pallet. You wanted to keep eating them, but for the size of the serving, I would have finished them. 
​
Ratings (On a scale of 1-5)
Appearance: 3
Flavor: 4
Mouthfeel: 4

Total Score: 11

For what it's worth:
Being just up the road from a killer deli and butcher shop: 5