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Meat Amanda and Derek, And Order a Burger
Meat Amanda and Derek, And Order a Burger
By Jan Mercker
A Fauquier County girl meets a Pittsburgh guy. They bond over a love for food and a passion for fresh local meats. More than a decade later, Amanda and Derek Luhowiak are slinging the best burgers in town and offering locally raised beef for their patrons.
As the Whole Ox restaurant and butcher shop in Marshall gears up for its 13th anniversary in September, the owners have plenty to discuss, including expansion into a new kitchen and events space across the street and Amanda’s killer performance on an episode of the Food Network’s “Guy’s Grocery Games” that aired this spring. Amanda grew up in Marshall as the only child of an avid hunter and fisherman.
“My dad was showing me how to hunt and fish and gut fish and skin squirrel and process deer,” she said. “That’s something that we used to do together when I was younger.”
Meeting Derek, a master butcher with a background in sustainable agriculture, truly brought home her passion for old-school butchery–and serving up tasty burgers.
Derek is a Pittsburgh native and trained chef who landed in the countryside’s fine dining scene and ran the meat facility at Ayrshire Farm. They met through mutual friends and also bonded over a shared love of great music and food.
The couple knew they wanted to do something in Marshall when they realized that, despite being surrounded by farms, they were driving east down Route 50 to buy meat from a grocery store.
They initially considered other locations, but the rent was too high. So they shifted gears and launched their first business: a 6x10 kitchen trailer called Local 647. But the food truck’s popularity soared after a feature on Good Morning America’s “Best Food Cart Challenge.”
“It was far too small for how popular we had become,” Amanda said.
They found a commercial space in Marshall where they could focus on what they loved: whole animal butchery using sustainably raised meats from local farms.
The Whole Ox at 8357 W. Main Street in Marshall opened Sept. 1, 2011, and has been going strong ever since. The Luhowiaks also are known for their charitable endeavors. Every year around the holidays, the couple purchase one or two whole cows from a local farm and process and seal them for donation to the Fauquier FISH food pantry in Warrenton. The couple also support local schools and other nonprofits.
In the summer of 2023, a small retail space across the street from The Whole Ox opened up. It went operational earlier this summer and serves as extra kitchen space for Derek, who is rebuilding their charcuterie and handcrafted deli choices, with homemade meats for sandwiches, dry sausages, pates and other delicacies.
The new space is available for private events. Amanda also wants to get back to restauranthosted special events that were customer favorites pre-pandemic, including butcher demos, cooking classes, wine events, and meet-the-maker events spotlighting local farmers and producers.
The other happening last summer was Amanda’s invitation to be a contestant on Guy Fieri’s Food Network show. The competition was a flawless fit for the people-oriented Amanda.
“I wanted to make the contacts of meeting the other chefs,” she said. “I wanted to go for the experience and, of course, I have a little bit of a competitive nature.”
Last August, she was on a plane to Northern California for a full day of filming for the show’s “Best Burgers” episode that aired in April. She won the first round but finished as runner-up. Still, it was 100 percent worthwhile.
“It was probably one of the longest and hardest and most stressful work days I’ve ever had,” Amanda said. “But I would absolutely do it again. It was just such an amazing experience.”
