Inside Look: The Butcher’s Daughter

Unlike many juice bar entrepreneurs, it wasn’t an obsession with fresh fruits and veggies that drew Heather Tierney to the business. Instead, the former restaurant critic for Time Out New York got interested in juice while developing cocktail recipes for New York City bar Apotheké, a project she launched with her brother in 2008. “We were making all these amazing cocktails with exotic produce and herbs,” she says. “I thought to myself, ‘Why isn’t anyone making juice like this or opening a juice bar with an actual bar in it?’ ”

At the time, most juice spots were grab-and-go with simple flavor combinations. Fueled by the idea of bringing the same level of creativity to an alcohol-free context, Tierney opened the first Butcher’s Daughter in Nolita in 2013, and she has launched three locations since—two in New York and one in the Venice neighborhood of Los Angeles.

At The Butcher’s Daughter, we treat fruits and vegetables as a butcher would meat: We chop, fillet and carve fresh produce into heathy vegetarian dishes and press them into pretty juices.

Each location has a similar menu, with breakfast, lunch and dinner offerings from chef Darwin Guzman (formerly of Quality Meats). For the juice side, Tierney tapped the expertise of Brandi Kowaslki, who previously ran the juice program at ABC Kitchen at Jean Georges. Together the duo created a seasonal menu, sourcing ingredients from local farms and paying special attention to wellness and health benefits with programs like Juice by Color. “We try to create a beautiful rainbow of liquids,” says Tierney. “It makes for a pretty kaleidoscope of colors but also ensures that you’re covering the health benefits. Each resulting color of juice carries a different nutritional component. For example, juices with a deep red hue are high in antioxidants and have a deep cleansing benefit.”

Tierney designed the beautiful bars through her design company Wanderlust. The Los Angeles location (pictured) is the largest of the three—almost five times the size of the original in New York, with 3,200 square feet. With a playful mashup of industrial and organic elements that evoke cool, clean California vibes, Tierney calls it “a pretty, feminine take on an old-world, masculine butcher shop.”

The buildout and design took six months. “The building had great bones—wood-beamed ceilings and partial brick walls, and the cement floor was already there,” she says, adding that she white-washed the entire space to lift the mood. “I like to transform a space to have a white backdrop so the greenery and natural elements like the butcher block wood really pop.”

The centerpiece of the LA location is the communal dining counter and espresso bar, where wooden swing stools add a playful touch. “We wanted to give the space a sense of community, so you could drop in and grab stool any time of day and feel comfortable and welcome.” There’s also a 25-foot-long juice bar, where the cold-pressed juices and wine are served from taps. “I think people like coming into the space because they feel like they get a shot of design and health when they’re here,” says Tierney. “It’s like a living room for Venice.”