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Jason Schoendorfer studied audio engineering and spent over a decade working in his family's pet cemetery and crematory business. Melanie grew up in an Italian-Canadian household where prosciutto, sausages, and pepperettes were made at home as a matter of course, then spent eleven years at Joanna's Marketplace, South Miami's respected gourmet grocery. The two met at a Starbucks, bonded over a shared love of sausage, moved to Miami, and discovered the city was missing the meats they wanted. So they made them. In 2013, under the name Babe Froman Fine Sausages, they set up a tent at Pinecrest Gardens Farmers Market and started slinging out all manner of premium meats. In 2018, they opened a brick-and-mortar in Palmetto Bay, which recently doubled in size, giving the butcher shop ample room for table seating.
The vibe: The space is spotlessly clean and a little spare, with a mini market of meats, sides and accouterments lining the counters, shelves and fridges. The butcher case is stocked with premium cuts, house-made sausages, and the same cured meats that go into the sandwiches. What warms it up is often Jason himself, working the counter with the ease of someone who knows every regular and makes first-timers feel like one. When he cut me a pound of vacio and I asked what to do with it, he walked me through how I should season, grill and serve it, giving me, or rather, my husband, the confidence to fire up the grill at home. There are around five tables and some counter seating, filled with a cross-section of South Miami regulars: guys in polos or construction gear grabbing lunch, families in sports jerseys, couples meeting up for a quick lunch break, a loner who just couldn't fight the craving for Babe's famed Burger. On weekends, the place fills up until close.
The food: The Babe's Burger is a smashed prime and wagyu patty on a Martin's potato roll, buttery and faintly sweet, with sriracha mayo, American cheese, and house-made pickles that hold their color and crunch. They're a fresh shade of green, carry real acidity, and don't go limp or gray the way lesser pickles do. Go for the double.
As for the Cuban sandwich, Jason's great-grandparents owned Lucerna, one of Cuba's most celebrated bakeries, and the sandwich reflects that lineage in an unexpected direction: fatty Duroc ham brined and smoked in-house, pork roasted with Italian seasoning and onions, hot English yellow mustard, and curried bread-and-butter pickles pressed together on a flattop griddle. It’s a slim, savory standout, where each flavor complements the other.
An unexpected route to go is the banh mi, which is clean and restrained. Chicken or pork is stuffed into a fluffy hoagie roll, along with cilantro, shoestring onion, and carrot, and nothing is drowning in sauce. As for sides, the chorizo cheese fries are the more satisfying order: deeply battered and crispy, with cheddar and salty pork worked throughout. The croquetas disappear fast, so arrive with that in mind.
Time Out tip: Babe's is one of the only places in Miami serving Montreal-style smoked meat, and one of even fewer doing it with real cheese curds in the poutine. The curds stay chunky, the gravy stays light. If that means something to you, make the drive to Palmetto Bay.