Hometown Madison - September & October 2017

The Finest for Flora
Big Dreams of a Small-Town Butcher
Dani Edmonson
A year ago this August, the quaint city of
Flora received bragging rights to the best
beef prepared by an internationally trained
chef. For twelve months, The Flora Butcher
has been both a traditional butcher shop,
selling premier cuts to restaurants, as well as
a front-of-house meat shop that retails to
individuals who wish to have some of the
finest meat available. Wagyu, chicken, duck,
sausage and pies are all available at surprisingly
affordable prices. And as a bonus, they
also offer mouth-watering daily blue-plate
specials and a plethora of mostly-Mississippi
made a la carte products.
Owner, butcher, and chef, David Raines,
is an internationally-celebrated chef having
traveled the globe to learn from the best.
He earned a degree from Johnson & Wales
University’s College of Culinary Arts. He
gained experience at Emeril Lagasse’s Nola
in New Orleans, Restaurant R’evolution also
in New Orleans, Club Alliance in Japan, and
Rene Redzepi’s Noma in Denmark. Though
working with the best in New Orleans and
Japan certainly helped him hone his craft, his
Denmark experience was more than
professional—it was personal as well. Denmark
gifted Raines with his soon-to-be wife, Celine.
“I met Celine on a friendly basis at first as
she, too, was in the restaurant business,” he
reflects. Knowing his time in Denmark would
not be permanent, he rallied himself to attend
an event he knew she would attend as well. It
did not happen overnight, but his persistence
was met with her lack of resistance, and they
married within a year. At the time, they called
New Orleans their home as Raines was with
Restaurant R’evolution. Loving the Big Easy
was easy until their first child was born, and
it became clear to them that somewhere far
from the lively Bourbon Street would be
better to raise a family.
“Fortunately, I was asked to open the
Seafood R’evolution in Ridgeland, Mississippi,”
he said. “Once we were here, Celine loved
it, and we wanted to make it our home.”
They currently live in Madison County.
Seafood R’evolution, described as a fine
dining experience, has received high praise
from the beginning. After a year, however,
Raines realized that he was beginning to
develop a style all his own, and he yearned to
be free to express that style. “You know when
you get that feeling that you know enough to
be your own boss?” he asked. “I just wanted
to go back to what I knew and loved, and
from there, try to expand things my way.”
Born in Hawaii, his family moved to
Louisiana when he was around seven. His
father had a passion for cattle farming.
Raines grew up in this environment until he
graduated high school, when he immediately
joined the Army for three years to sort of
“settle himself down.” Mission accomplished.
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