Close to home

Chris Eley, owner of Goose the Market, sells Indiana farmed raised high end meats. Pictured here, he is working with a whole ham leg from Gunthorp Farms, LaGrange, Indiana. (Credit: Frank Espich / Metromix)

Chris Eley is 6 feet 8 inches tall, dwarfing everyone behind the lunch counter, including his wife, Mollie.

As owner of Goose the Market, 2503 N. Delaware St., the 30-year-old chef works roughly from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. He wears a gray apron over white butcher’s clothes, so he’s ready to get a little dirty.

Eley started in the food industry as a 14-year-old, washing dishes at Sahm’s in Fishers. Eventually, he became executive chef at a couple of posts locally before running his own sophisticated kitchen at Viand in Chicago.

Now he’s back in Indianapolis, running a boutique butcher, produce merchant and sandwich store that buys regional and sells local.

“Obviously you can’t find everything,” said Eley, who recently became vice chair of Slow Food Indy, “but you can find some great high-end stuff.”

High end is part of what Eley’s store offers, such as salmon pastrami for $14.95 a pound and escargot with parsley butter for $1.50 each, but the idea is more than simply boutique offerings.

“The whole thing with slow food is that its good, clean, fair food, for everyone,” he said. “It’s not meant to be upper-class food only.”

It means connecting with the region, from artisan cheese producers like Capriole, Traders Point and Swiss Connection, to many meat producers: duck from Maple Leaf Farms in Milford; beef from Fischer Farms in Jasper; veal from the Apple Family Farm in McCordsville; Viking lamb from Morristown and pork, chicken and rabbit from Gunthorp’s Farm in LaGrange.

Charcuterie — cured meats — is his focus, like the soppresata, spicy coppa and capocolla that go into his Batali sandwich, which was honored by Bon Appetit magazine last summer as one of the best in the country.

Beyond all that though, Eley likes interacting with people.

“It’s definitely that old world, old school thought of the neighborhood market,” he said.