Hinckley’s Fancy Meats, the specialty meat purveyor and sandwich shop, has been a fixture inside East End Market since opening five years ago, but now owner Matt Hinckley is poised to expand his footprint inside the Audubon Park food hub with a new barbecue concept.

Boxer & Clover will take over the Farm & Haus stall after Patrick Lyne and Brittany Walsh-Lyne vacate the space Jan. 31. The pair will focus on their Park Avenue restaurant, which celebrates its one-year anniversary this month.

Hinckley says that Boxer & Clover, named after the working-class equines in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, will focus on classic Southern barbecue staples of brisket, pork butt, chicken thighs, ribs, collards, and mac & cheese, but not in any particular regional style.

“I don’t want to be pigeonholed,” Hinckley says, “so I’m just going to let it naturally evolve.” Hinckley will have two smokers at his disposal, one of which will allow him to focus on live-fire cooking. “Cooking over wood fire has followed me throughout my career, when I was in Tanzania, New Zealand and Miami.”

Does that mean we’ll see some good ol’ fashioned mishkaki on the menu?

“I’m definitely open to experimenting,” he says. “Mishkaki would work really well!”

Hinckley says that Boxer & Clover will open in March, a couple of weeks after his other concept, Mid Drive Dive, opens in College Park after Valentine’s Day.

The barbecue joint will have a six-month run at East End Market, after which Hinckley will evaluate whether to extend Boxer & Clover’s stay or go full brick-and-mortar.

Giddy up.

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This article appears in Jan 10-16, 2024.

Orlando restaurant critic. Orlando Weekly restaurant critic since 2006.