Fat Rabbit

Whole animals arrive at Fat Rabbit and get broken down in house, and that one decision organizes everything that follows. The same carcass that becomes a charcoal-grilled rib steak in the dining room also stocks the charcuterie counter and the retail case by the door. This is a restaurant and a working butcher shop sharing a single kitchen on Geneva Street in St. Catharines, where the meat craft is the premise rather than a theme laid over a conventional steakhouse. Fire and a butcher's block come first, and the menu is what the two of them make possible.

The charcuterie counter is where most tables start. House-cured boards come in two formats — a box for two and a larger one built for six to eight — stacked with the kitchen's own mortadella, salami, and bresaola, and they run from delicate to bold. That is the snackable end of the kitchen; the grill is where it turns into dinner. Mixed Grill is the shared centre, a spread of cuts cooked over wood and coal; Rib Steak gives the most direct read on the charcoal program; the Picanha Plate and a pork chop plated with razor clams round out the heavier end. Lighter plates hold their own against all that meat — hand-chopped beef tartare, foie gras, burrata, snow crab, grilled asparagus, crispy potatoes, and a house-ground cheeseburger. Sticky toffee pudding closes the meal, dark and soaked in warm toffee.