A meat cute story: How Kelly Kawachi became head butcher of Blackbelly Market and won a Michelin award

The first time Kelly Kawachi tried to carry a cow’s leg from the delivery to the cold room at Blackbelly Market, she realized she’d miscalculated. The leg was heavier than she anticipated, and with every step, Kawachi felt like she was sinking lower and lower into the ground.

“Over the years, I definitely realized I needed to up my arm strength because I wanted to be helpful,” said Kawachi, who started at Blackbelly in 2016 and is now head butcher.

Then, there’s the fact that she is a woman in a world dominated by men. Customers often assume she’s a male when they ask for the manager, said Ethan Perry, who works for Kawachi as her lead butcher at the Boulder restaurant. “You don’t meet a lot of female butchers.”

But the culinary world met Kawachi in September when the Michelin Guide named her as its top Young Chef or Culinary Professional in the state. In its review of Blackbelly, Michelin highlighted “her handiwork across the menu, and in the charcuterie boards showcasing duck rillette, pork terrine, headcheese and saucisson, as well as the “supremely flavorful” Koji-cured pork.

It was fitting then that Kawachi was serving wagyu beef tartare and salami at the Mission Ballroom when she heard her name called during the Michelin ceremony there on Sept. 12.

Blackbelly, which was catering the event, also won a Green Star from Michelin for its sustainable practices, including the in-house butcher program and sourcing from local ranches and farms, and for utilizing every aspect of the whole animals they butcher.

“It’s an honor to get recognition for something you do every day,” Kawachi told The Denver Post. “It’s awesome to know people care about the quality of work we’re putting out, and it just makes me want to keep doing what I’m doing and strive for better.”

From whole fish to whole animals

Kawachi, 35, is a Hawaii native, but attended Colorado Mesa University, where she graduated from the culinary program in Grand Junction. After college, she moved back to Oahu and worked at Alan Wong’s, a fine dining spot on the island, and learned how to cut down whole fish.

Five years in, as sous chef, she added a new skill: sawing down the rib section of a lamb. And the experience stuck with her. At the same time, one of the lead cooks at the restaurant introduced her to the salumi-making process. From there, she was sold on butchery and moved back to Colorado to explore her interest, taking a job at Blackbelly Market.

Kawachi had a lot to learn at the beginning. “I knew I was annoying everyone else with all my questions about every aspect,” she said. But Kawachi was determined to grow, buying recommended butchery books on her off time and reading them religiously.

“Soon, I was asking fewer questions on what things were and more about what we can do with the meat, and then after that, I learned how to develop the by-products of whole-animal butcheries, like sausages and terrines,” Kawachi said. “I wanted to get the basics of the butchery down, and it was like a whole new world, which is what made it exciting.”

Isaac Sullenger became head butcher at Blackbelly in 2019, and Kawachi became his right-hand woman. “He would challenge me, getting me better as a butcher as far as breaking down things efficiently, and he taught me the ropes of the salumi process,” she said.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, Sullenger left, and Kawachi knew it was her time to step up.

“I don’t ever toot my own horn,” she said. “My fiance gets frustrated with me for selling myself short.” But she approached Blackbelly owner Hosea Rosenberg to let him know she was ready.

“It wasn’t the workload that scared me,” Kawachi said. “I didn’t know if I was ready enough to move up. I didn’t want the quality of Blackbelly to die down on my watch, but I wanted to give it a go for one year, which went really well obviously. We have a standard here, working with a lot of expensive items, like the dry-aged locker, which has around $10,000 worth of meat.”

The winner of “Top Chef” season five, Rosenberg opened Blackbelly, which is located at 606 Conestoga St., as a farm-to-table restaurant with a butcher counter in 2014. He opened Blackbelly Butcher next door in 2016, the same year that Kawachi joined the team.

He’d already been impressed with how Kawachi had grown “leaps and bounds” and so he gave her the role of head butcher in 2021. “She’s not ego-driven; she’s always here to work and kick ass, and I love rewarding people who aren’t greedy,” he said. “They just come in and do their thing, and when the opportunity presents itself, they’re ready, and she was totally ready.”

Two pigs, a goat and a cow

Every day, Kawachi arrives at the shop at 5:30 a.m., puts meat on the smoker, checks on stocks and braises from overnight and sets up the shop’s meat case. Then she starts breaking down the pigs, lamb or beef, and prepares it for the restaurant. After that, it’s time to make sausages and coordinate deliveries with local ranchers and farmers.

Kawachi and her team typically butcher two whole pigs and one lamb per week, along with a cow once a month. She tries to wrap up by 3:30 p.m., but is often there for 12 hours.

“Work is really important to me,” Kawachi said. “I make it a priority, and I care a lot. I can’t come to work and just do an okay job. I give it my all and try to cram everything I can into a day.”