Going Primal with protein and fire

“People who come to these events are food enthusiasts,” Lowe says.

“Right now, what they really want to connect with is local, sustainable, responsibly raised proteins. Primal is getting back to the bare basics of fire and butchers with knives.”

By “proteins,” Brady means meat — arguably the hottest food trend of the moment, from the ubiquitous Benton’s smoked country bacon to many more fine dining restaurants serving up all manner of beef, lamb and pork procured from small producers.

In Atlanta, that's epitomized by Abattoir : the "whole animal cuisine".

Westside restaurant describes its mission as using “locally- raised proteins to produce high-quality, affordable food” — including offal delights like tripe stew, veal sweetbreads and grilled corned lamb kidney.

Of course, there are all those new hamburger places, too, notably the high concept Flip Burger Boutique and the simple, but hip, Grindhouse Killer Burgers in the Sweet Auburn Curb Market.

Recently, Grindhouse hosted a Taste Network series of butchering seminars leading up to Primal. Lowe was joined by Todd Mussman, chef/partner at Muss & Turner's deli and restaurant in Vinings, and Tommy Searcy, who raises Berkshire and Tamworth hogs, Katahdin lamb and Angus cattle at his family's Gum Creek Farms near Carrollton.

The mostly young, decidedly carnivorous crowd who gathered at Grindhouse paid $35 to sip wine and beer, nibble artisan cheeses, and sample beef and pork sliders.

Searcy explained how he grows drug-free, grass-fed animals on pastures that aren’t treated with chemicals, while Mussman broke down one of Searcy’s Berkshire hogs into recognizable hams, roasts, tenderloins and ribs, producing a sort of live version of David Letterman’s “Know Your Cuts of Meat” bit.

Afterward, Lowe, Mussman and Searcy were pleased that the butchering process was greeted with such obvious enthusiasm.

“What surprised me was that everybody was so intrigued,” Searcy said.

“You could tell that from the expressions on their faces. There wasn’t a grossed-out look from anybody.”

Mussman and Searcy agreed that the connection between chefs and farmers has grown and developed over the past few years, as more small farmers opt not to send their animals to large meat industry processors and are instead supplying local restaurants.

“Every time I go to a farm I feel closer to the source and I feel like I’m a part of it,” Mussman said. “It’s like tasting wine with a winemaker or tasting beer with a brewer.”

“I’ve always been intrigued by cooking,” Searcy said. “I love seeing their end of it. Basically, I’m striving for the best piece of pork that Muss can use.”

Searcy’s friend and fellow farmer Bill Hodge also was on hand at Grindhouse. Hodge raises old line Angus and Hereford cattle at his family’s Hodge Ranch in Carrollton, and will be supplying a whole grass-finished, dry-aged Angus cow at Primal.

“You’ve got a more educated consumer now,” Hodge said. “People are asking more questions. They want to know where their food comes from.”

“It’s caught on in the younger generation, who live online, who live on blogs and are looking for new ways to see food,” Lowe said.

But beyond the farmers, chefs and consumers, Lowe said there’s one component of the whole animal cuisine scene that’s conspicuously missing in Atlanta.

“A vintage butcher shop would be a key addition,” Lowe said. “What people are doing with vintage shops in other places like New York and San Francisco is putting the sexy back into butchering. Like chefs before them, those people are becoming the new rock stars.”

Primal Atlanta

6-10 p.m. Saturday at SweetWater Brewing Co., 195 Ottley Drive Atlanta, 404-691-2537, www.sweetwaterbrew.com . Information and tickets: www.artofthebutcher.com or 404-849-3569. $55 general admission includes wine, beer and meat tastings; $100 VIP ticket includes reserve wines, Benton's Bacon Bar, grilled artisan cheeses, local beer and barbecue.